Patna, Feb 6 : Ever heard of a murder case being lodged six days before the murder actually took place? Well, this is what has happened in Patna, much to the embarrassment of police officials.

Pinku Choudhary, a resident of Chowk Shikarpur here, was murdered Jan 11 but surprisingly the Chowk police station lodged an FIR dated Jan 5 in connection with his murder.

"It is shocking and embarrassing for the police. We have asked a senior police officer to inquire into it and trace the lapses," a police official said Wednesday.

Last month, Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate of Patna S.N. Srivastava was surprised when this was brought to his notice. He immediately issued a show cause notice to the SHO of Chowk police station, Ravishankar Prasad, asking him to explain how this blunder had occurred.

Police sources said the blunder came to light when Ajay Verma, a criminal, filed a petition for regular bail in the court. Verma is accused of Choudhary's murder and is currently lodged in Beur jail here.

"The court was surprised when Verma's lawyer said that Pinku Choudhary was killed on Jan 11 but the FIR mentioned Jan 5 as the date of his murder," the official said.

Police later filed a petition in the court, admitting its mistake and requested that the date be corrected in the FIR.

The FIR was lodged on the basis of a statement by a witness, who later died under mysterious circumstances.

(IANS)