Journalist murder case: Third person detained, cops probe 'missing' CCTV footage

A third person was detained on Sunday in connection with the brutal murder of senior journalist Rajdeo Ranjan in Siwan.

The man is the caretaker of the CCTV footage and he is currently being quizzed by the Police team from Siwan who arrived in Patna today to investigate into the disappearance of the footage.

Earlier, the Bihar Police collected evidences from the crime scene of the murder and detained two suspects in this connection.

"Our special teams comprising a team of forensic science, Special Task Force (STF) and Criminal Investigation Department (CID) officials had been dispatched to Siwan last night. They have collected all possible evidences from the crime scene, besides police have apprehended two suspected accused, and interrogation is going on," said the DGP.

Ranjan, a journalist with Hindi daily Hindustan was shot dead by criminals near the Siwan railway station on Friday.

Two bullets were fired at the Siwan bureau chief of the daily that hit on his head and neck. He was shifted to a hospital, where doctors declared him brought dead.

According to police, five motorcycle-borne criminals were waiting for Ranjan, who was walking down the road to his home, and shot him twice.

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley yesterday condemned the shocking murders of two journalists in Bihar and Jharkhand and called for an 'independent investigation' into the matter.

"I strongly condemn murder of journalists, Rajdeo Ranjan in Siwan & Akhilesh Pratap Singh in Chatra district. Independent investigation may be instituted & guilty be punished," Jaitley said in a series of tweets.

Meanwhile, the Congress has called on the Centre to introspect and look into how journalists are being repeatedly attacked and murdered in Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-ruled states.