CBI arrests coal mafioso in 2003 murder case

New Delhi, Sep 22 (UNI) The CBI today claimed to have solved the 2003 killing of Pramod Kumar Singh in Dhanbad, which led to largescale protests and subsequent transfer of the case to the central agency, with the arrest of a coal mafioso.

Accused Suresh Singh, member of a coal mafia of Dhanbad, was arrested on September 19 for allegedly giving 'supari' to kill Pramod Kumar, who worked under him, said the CBI.

Investigations revealed that the motive behind the killing was to fix his business rivals.

Earlier, the CBI had arrested the killer who shot dead Pradmod Kumar Singh and the person who had taken the 'supari' from the main conspirator. In all five accused had been arrested in the case out of which four are in judicial custody.

The case was registered by the CBI on December 12, 2003 with the consent of the Government of Jharkhand government.

Pramod Kumar Singh was shot dead on October 3, 2003 while entering his house in B M Agarwal Colony, Dhansar when he arrived from Varanasi by train. He was taken to the Central Hospital, where the the main conspirator arrived along with his friend and relative.

With the help of Sub-Inspector P Khairwar, he managed to prepare a dying declaration of Pramod Kumar naming two of his business rivals -- Ramandhin Singh and Rajiv Ranjan Singh -- as assailants.

Dr D Mishra, before whom the deceased had purportedly given a statement at the time of his death, told the CBI that his signature was taken by the Sub-Inspector in a hurry while he was making emergency arrangements for carrying out surgery on Pramod Kumar Singh.

The CBI also recovered the 9 mm country-made pistol and carried a forensic test, which revealed that the empty cartridges recovered from the scene of crime and the pellets recovered from the body of the deceased during post-mortem have been fired from the said 9 mm pistol.

Later the CBI located the person who had sold this weapon and also disclosed that one Heera Khan had confided in him that he had killed Pramod Kumar Singh with this weapon.

Subsequently, Heera Khan revealed the name of the three conspirators -- Kashmiri Khan, Syed Arshad Ali and Mohammad Ayub Khan -- who were later arrested and the two recorded their statements before the Metropolitan Magistrate in Delhi naming the coal mafioso Suresh Singh to have given supari of Rs three lakh to two persons -- Kharak Singh and Kashmiri Khan -- who further gave the contract to the actual killer Heera Khan.

Based on the statements of the two accused, the coal mafioso was arrested and sent to police custody till Sptember 28.

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