Bihar: 4 held for killing budding engineer in Purnia

PATNA: The broad daylight murder of a first year engineering student Harsh Kumar Jha in Purnia on Tuesday was fallout of a fracas with one of his friends over some trivial issue, police said on Thursday.
Purnia SP Dayashankar said the deceased's four friends, including the prime accused Sanu, were arrested on the basis of scientific evidence. The illegal weapon, which was used in the crime, was also seized by the police.
During investigation, it came to light that Sanu had shot Harsh at the residence of his associate Jyoti Prakash at around 10.30 am on Tuesday following a verbal duel.He and his friends, however, tried to mislead the police by concocting a different story. Sanu, Jyoti Prakash and Divyanshu Raj had earlier told police that Harsh was shot by unidentified armed criminals when they were going towards DAV Chowk from Manjali Chowk under Madhubani police outpost on a motorbike on August 24.
Police, however, suspected some foul play as none of the three had blood stains on their clothes.
The SP said that Sanu, Jyoti Prakash, his brother Jyoti Deep and Divyanshu cleaned blood stains on the floor to hide the truth. However, they broke down during sustained interrogation and confessed their crime, he added.
A day before the incident, Harsh, a first year student of an engineering college in Bhubaneswar, had attended the birthday party hosted by Jyoti Prakash near Chunapur bridge. As they got late at the birthday celebration, Sanu, Divyanshu and Harsh stayed at the residence of Jyoti. Next morning, Sanu had an altercation with Harsh over some trivial issue.
Agitated, Sanu whipped out a pistol and fired at Harsh, killing him on the spot. During a search of Jyoti’s house, police recovered the weapon, which will be sent to the forensic laboratory for ballistic examination.
The SP said that the case would be listed for speedy trial as all the accused have already been arrested and forwarded to jail. Jyoti Prakash’s brother Jyoti Deep has been charged with abetment of crime.
Earlier, the deceased's father Kamlesh Jha told police that Harsh had come to Purnia during lockdown after his college in Bhubaneswar was closed.