Contractor ‘who had 30 cases against him in Bihar’ shot dead in Lucknow

About Saturday’s incident, Lucknow Police Commissioner D K Thakur said the assailants turned up at the contractor’s house with their faces covered, and that his three private security guards had opened the main door.

“The guards are also missing and their role seems suspicious. It has also come to light that in 2019, there was another attack on him at the railway station. After the attack, he had become handicapped and couldn’t walk. We are finding out details of that case too,” the commissioner said.

“The deceased had at least 30 cases against him in Bihar and the state’s police didn’t know he was living here in Lucknow. The cases are related to extortion, murder, loot, the Arms Act and others. He was known in Bihar by the name of Gorakh Thakur. He was among the top-most criminals of West Champaran,” he added.

The police commissioner also said that the contractor’s three children were from his first wife, who had been staying with him till 2021. “He got married again. We are looking into family dispute and business dispute too. We are checking the CCTVs,” he said.

Speaking about the 2019 attack on the contractor, Lucknow ADCP (East) Qasim Abdi said, “He was attacked outside the Charbagh railway station in Lucknow, and a case was lodged with Government Railway Police (GRP). In that case, four people were held and a total of six were chargesheeted. The six were from Bihar and West Bengal. He was shot in the lower abdomen twice, and that left him handicapped.”

Speaking to The Indian Express on Saturday, Commissioner Thakur said: “As per the complaint lodged by the family members, he may have been attacked by the same people who were responsible for the attack on him in 2019. There is a possible business rivalry which could be the motive for the murder.”