Taking a major step in investigating former Minister Ramesh Singh Munda murder case, who was killed along with four others in the year 2008, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) team raided locations of former Minister and two-time Tamar MlA Gopal Krishna Pater alias Raja Peter on Sunday.
Raja Peter’s resident was searched for several hours after the premier investigating agency picked up his close aide Sunil Soni from his residence at Raidih in Tamar. Soni was along with the NIA while the raid was conducted at Peter’s residence. A cloth merchant of Tamar also got quizzed by the NIA.
The NIA before that also arrested Assistant Sub Inspector (ASI) Sheshnath Singh in this connection allegedly for passing information to the CPI Maoists regarding the movement of former minister Ramesh Singh Munda on the eventful day leading to his murder. NIA, currently investigating matter, claimed that Munda was attacked following the information was passed out to the Maoists by the ASI.
“The arrested ASI provided information about the movement of the MlA to the Naxalites after which they attacked and killed Ramesh Munda. Police custody of Sheshnath Singh has been given up to October 15,” stated an official release issued by NIA. The team was searching at four more locations in Ranchi in connection with the case, it added.
Police sources confirmed that Sheshnath Singh, currently posted at Bhoura OP at Jharia in Dhanbad, was arrested late in the night on Saturday by the NIA team. “Singh was one of the body guards of Munda, who was also standing just behind him when the Maoists sprayed bullets on him, but the ASI sustained no injury,” said a police source requesting anonymity. The NIA has already interrogated Maoist Kundan Pahan after taking over the investigations of this case.
Munda, along with his two bodyguards, one party colleague and a student were shot dead allegedly by the group of dreaded Maoist Kundan Pahan on July 9, 2008 when he was delivering his speech at a school function at SS High School at Bundu located in his assembly constituency Tamar, hardly 50 km from the State capital Ranchi.
NIA was roped in to investigate the matter only after Vikas Singh Munda, sitting MlA from Tamar and his son, wrote a letter to the Union Home Ministry following projection of surrendered Moist Kundan Pahan like a hero by Jharkhand Police. The MlA had sat on a long dharna against the act of the police and demanded a high level investigation into the matter.
Munda was among top politicians in Jharkhand but got killed when on pick in the likes of JMM MP Sunil Mahto and CPI (M) MlA Mahendra Singh by the Maoist rebels in Jharkhand.