STF arrests shooter in Varanasi, foils bid on BJP MLA’s life

LUCKNOW: A special task force (STF) of the UP Police claimed to have foiled an attempt to kill BJP’s Chandauli MLA Sushil Singh by nabbing a sharpshooter and his two aides in Varanasi late on Friday night.
Sharpshooter Shiv Prakash Tiwari, alias Dhoni, a native of Basti and wanted in at least six murders across the state, was carrying a reward of Rs 1 lakh on his head.His accomplices, Manish Kesarwani and Anjani Singh of Allahabad, are named in two murders and several dacoities.
According to SSP (STF) Satyarth Anirudh Pankaj, they received a tip-off that Dhoni and his men were on their way to Chandauli district to kill MLA Singh at the behest of Bihar gangster Amarnath Chaubey. It is not immediately clear why Chaubey wanted the MLA dead.
“A team of six chased the three, who were on two bikes, for 2km before intercepting them near Taktakpur gas agency under Cantonment police station area of the city (Varanasi),” SSP (STF) Pankaj said. Three countrymade pistols and nearly a dozen live cartridges were found on the trio.
STF officers said Dhoni was named in six murders, including that of VHP state organiser BD Ojha in 2011 and two inmates in Basti jail in 2012. The shooter is also an accused in several cases of attempted murder, loot and dacoity. Manish and Anjani, accused in two murders, were champion bike racers, the officers said.
“Dhoni came to know gangster Chaubey through Bihar cop-turned-criminal Abhishek, alias Bunty. After the murder of a lawyer in Allahabad in December 2018 and killing the latter’s brother in February this year, Dhoni and Manish had fled to gangster Chaubey’s safehouse in Siwan, Bihar,” SSP Pankaj said.
The Bihar don hired the sharpshooter for Rs 12 lakh to eliminate a rival in Siwan in March. But, the target survived. Nevertheless, Chaubey took a fancy for Dhoni and the latter became his right-hand man.
STF officers said they were grilling Dhoni and the others to know why the Bihar don wanted the BJP MLA from Chandauli dead.