NIA arrests two persons in Jharkhand MLA's murder case

The National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Tuesday said it had arrested two persons in connection with the murder of former state Minister and Janata Dal-United legislator Ramesh Singh Munda in 2008.

Residents of Jharkhand capital Ranchi, both suspects -- Prafull Kumar Mahto, 27, and Jaiganesh, 37 -- were arrested on Monday and have since been remanded in agency custody for five days by an NIA Special Court in Ranchi.

Munda was gunned down by Maoist guerrillas on July 9, 2008, while attending a programme at a school on Ranchi's outskirts.

Maoist commander Kundan Pahan's name figured in the killing. Pahan surrendered to police in May last year.

The probe was handed over to the NIA in September 2017.

An official of the counter-terror probe agency in Delhi said that the role of the two suspects had emerged vis-a-vis the murder conspiracy.

On October 9 last year, the agency had arrested former Jharkhand Minister Gopal Krishna Petre in the case, exposing the Maoist-politician nexus in Jharkhand.

Besides Petre, the NIA arrested Assistant Sub-Inspector Sheshnath Singh who was accused of providing advance information regarding Munda's movement to the Maoists. Singh, a bodyguard of Ramesh Singh Munda, is in NIA custody till October 15.

It is the first case in which a politician has been arrested in the killing of another politician.

Petre created history by defeating the then Jharkhand Chief Minister and Jharkhand Mukti Morcha chief Shibu Soren in January 2009 by-election to the Tamar seat, which fell vacant after Munda's murder.

After Shibu Soren lost the poll, President's Rule was imposed in Jharkhand.

Petre was again elected the legislator in the November 2009 assembly polls and he became a Minister.

--IANS

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