Patna,(BiharTimes): Senior police officials are of the view that the murder of bureau chief of Hindi daily, Hindustan, in Siwan is almost identical to the killing which took place at almost the same place near railway station on November 23, 2014. Upendra Singh, an aide of former Rashtriya Janata Dal MP, Mohammad Shahabuddin, and another person were detained on Saturday.

Reports said that the slain journalist Rajdeo Ranjan spent the last few months probing the November 2014 killing of Shrikant Bharti, a close aide of BJP’s Siwan MP, Om Prakash Yadav. His reports implicated Shahabuddin in that murder.

Shahabuddin is in jail for the last several years as he is serving a life sentence for the murder of two brothers.

According to Saran range deputy inspector general of police Ajit Kumar Rai the case has an uncanny resemblance to Bharti’s murder in November 2014. The place and site of Bharti and Rajdeo’s murder have great similarity. Crowd cover used to make escapes.

Police officials said that both murders were executed with the same professionalism and finesse.
Investigations revealed the killer was hired from Mhow in Uttar Pradesh. Police have detained Upendra Singh and are questioning him.

Police officials also said that unlike the 2014 murder, the killers this time used silencers.

“It seems from a scan of his writings that he had written extensively on the ex-MP and the activities of his aides. Maximum reports are on them and he had earned bylines on each. We are looking at a possible connection to the crime,” a police official was quoted in Hindustan Times, a sister concern of Hindustan.
The 80-year old father of the journalist, Radha Krishna Choudhary, a small farmer said his son had no enemy. He demanded a CBI inquiry, saying he had no faith in the local or state administration.

“Everbody knows, at whose instance my son has been killed,” he said.

Ranjan’s mobile phone records indicate he was called away from office at around 7.30 pm to a spot close to the site of the murder.

“The route did not fall in Ranjan’s regular way home and it seems he left his office after receiving a call,” police said.

Siwan SP Saurav Sah confirmed the DIG Rai’s opinion. Ranjan appears to have paid the price for writing against a section of politicians. He also said that the assailants were hired criminals from UP.

Sah said the murder was a handiwork of professional sharpshooters. Ranjan was shot thrice. The third bullet was pumped into his forehead to ensure he did not survive at any cost.

An Special Investigation Team comprising two DSPs, three inspectors and five sub-inspectors, has been formed to nab the killers.

The SIT led by Maharajganj SDPO Sanjeet Kumar Prabhat would probe the case from all angles, including personal enmity.

Bullets of 7.62mm diametre were retrieved from Ranjan's body by doctors who performed autopsy.
Police said no one is coming forward to give an eyewitness account.

Reports also said that Rajdeo had written against land mafia recently and the police are ascertaining whether they could also be linked to the murder. They are also probing whether the crime is an outcome of any love affair.

Sources said Rajdeo figured in a hit list of 23 issued from Siwan jail sometimes back. Over the past couple of years, around a dozen of them have been killed, including Bharati and Raushan Kumar, the lone eyewitness of the murder of his two younger brothers.