CBI arrests former Madhya Pradesh minister on murder charges

Bhopal/Lucknow, May 21 (ANI): A Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) team has arrested former Madhya Pradesh minister Kamal Patel on charges of murder in Lucknow.

Patel was under the CBI scanner in connection with the Durgesh Jaat murder case that had rocked the state in 2008.

He was arrested for planning and conspiring to murder and destroying evidence related to a case of homicide in which his son, Sudeep, was allegedly involved.

Patel had been Revenue Minister and is presently a legislator from the Harda constituency.

He belongs to the state's ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

The Lucknow branch of the CBI made the arrest and has taken Patel to Indore for further investigation.

"Parts of the Tavera car that was used in the murder were changed, and the curtains and seat covers of the vehicle were cleaned to destroy evidence. The complicity of Kamal Patel was also established in this regard," said S.K. Khare, Superintendent of Police, CBI Special Crime Branch.

"CBI Special Crime Branch arrested him yesterday for further interrogation, and he will be produced in the CBI court in Indore today," he added.

CBI officials said Patel's son, Sudeep, had murdered his friend, Durgesh Jaat, after an altercation broke out between them in a farmhouse on March 5, 2008.

Durgesh's father, Ramvilas, who has been seeking justice for his deceased son, maintains that his son had been shot at by Sudeep.

Patel is believed to have shielded his son by covering up the traces of the act, revealed CBI sources.(ANI)