Bihar: Five more arrested in ex-mayor murder case

PATNA: Police arrested five more people from Siliguri in West Bengal and Katihar on Sunday for their alleged involvement in the murder of former Katihar mayor Shivraj Paswan.
Paswan, who was mayor of Katihar till June 26 this year, was shot dead near Santoshi Chowk in the town on July 29.
At least four teams of Katihar police are conducting raids outside the district and even state to arrest the suspects.Altogether 12 persons were named in the FIR.
Katihar SP Vikash Kumar said those arrested on Sunday were Saket Shubham alias Tare Paswan, Karan Kumar Singh, Bunti Kumar Paswan, Kunal Kumar Paswan and one Karan Kumar Bansphor. All the accused are in the age group of 20 to 24 years.
The SP said Saket was arrested from his distant relative’s house in Siliguri while the rest four were arrested from different locations in Katihar. “Saket is a named accused in the FIR,” he said.
The SP denied claims that the former mayor was killed due to political rivalry. “It seems the murder was fallout of personal rivalry,” he said, adding station house officers of five police stations and two DSPs on probation are members of the special investigation team which is led by sadar SDPO Amarkant Jha.
Meanwhile, Jha said the four arrested from different locations in Katihar were present at the murder spot. “One of them is visible in CCTV camera footage,” he said.
SHO of Katihar Town police station Raghvendra Prasad Singh said Saket was also evading arrest in connection with attack on a doctor under Mufassil police station area of Katihar. “He is a notorious criminal. We will quiz him soon,” the SHO, who is in Siliguri to conduct further raids, said.