Kanker (Chhattisgarh): Chhattisgarh police have arrested Vikas Talukdar, who was hired for killing BJP leader Aseem Rai, from Hyderabad. Talukdar was paid Rs 7 lakhs to kill Rai and had shot the latter from a bike. Thirteen people including Talukdar have so far been arrested in connection with Rai's murder.
It has been revealed that the pistol used by Talukdar to murder Rai was purchased from Dantewada. Sonu Sahu, who provided the pistol in Dantewada has also been arrested. After the muder, the pistol had been handed over to Sahu. Sahu had hidden two pistols along with 30 cartridges at the house of one Gopi Das.
Prior to the murder, the accused had done a reiki and found out Rai's daily routine. On the day of the murder, the bike was driven by Gopi Das and Talukdar was the pillion-rider. As soon as Rai crossed the road, Talukdar opened fire with his pistol.
While investigating the case, police got a tip off that the shooter was with one Neelratan Mandal a few days ago. Following which, Mandal was arrested. Mandal informed police about involvement of Congress leaders Bappa Ganguly, Vikas Pal and Jitendra Bairagi. Mandal had involved Talukdar, who was his cousin in the murder plan.
Police have found that a political conspiracy was hatched for killing Rai. Congress leader and Nagar Panchayat President Bappa Ganguly was allegedly afraid of losing his chair while councilor Vikas Pal was afraid that his illegal construction in Pakhanjoor would be demolished by Rai. After BJP came to power a turmoil broke out in the Municipal Corporation and the these leaders were reportedly afraid of being exposed by Rai, police said.
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