Thakurganj trader murder plot hatched in Hardoi jail

LUCKNOW: With the arrest of one person, Thakurganj police claimed to have cracked the tenthouse owner murder case on Thursday. However, two assailants who had shot the man, Chhotu Lodhi, are on the run.
Lodhi, a 28-year-old tent house owner, was fatally shot in the head a stone’s throw from his residence in Thakurganj on May 19.
The person arrested was identified as Rizwan, an aide of jailed gangster Aquil Ansari, who was a conspirator in the murder.He was arrested from Thakurganj on an informer’s tip-off in the wee hours of Thursday.
Additional superintendent of police (west) Vikas Chandra Tripathi said Rizwan spilled the beans and claimed that Lodhi owed Rs 2.75 lakh to Ansari and was not ready to return. Hence, Ansari asked him to get it recovered.
However, as Lodhi refused and threatened to shoot Ansari’s men, it was decided to get Lodhi eliminated. Rizwan was the link between the two.