Bodyguard arrested in Ranchi double murder case

With the arrest of a private bodyguard of Lokesh Choudhary, franchise owner of a private TV channel and prime accused in the murder of two brothers on March 7, police claimed to have made major headway in the case.

The brothers, Mahendra Agarwal, 46, and Hemant Agarwal, 45, were found shot dead at the office of a private TV channel in the Ashok Nagar locality — the colony in the capital city is home to several top bureaucrats and police officers. The duo ran a moneylending business.

On Friday, senior superintendent of police Anish Gupta said that the special investigation team formed to probe the double murder had arrested Sunil Singh alias Sunil Kumar of Rohtas in Bihar from Bokaro Thursday. Police seized the weapon used in the murder, a .32 bore licensed revolver along with 19 live cartridges, on the basis of the confession of the accused.

The charred remains of three mobile phones belonging to the victims along with bloodstained clothes of the accused and the burnt digital video recording of the CCTV camera at the office were also seized.

Quoting the confession statement of the accused, the SSP said that Choudhary had called the brothers to his office on the evening of March 6 for borrowing Rs 25 lakh. Choudhary was present with Sunil at the office. Soon after, Choudhary’s associate Medhavi Kalpataru Singh entered the room with Choudhary’s second bodyguard Dharmendra Tiwary. Both were strangers to the brothers.

Singh then posed as a fake intelligence bureau officer and tried to seize the cash. When the brothers resisted, Tiwary took Sunil’s revolver and shot two rounds. The first round killed Hemant and the second one killed Mahendra. The accused then locked the room, and escaped with Rs 25 lakh in cash, the SSP said.

“This is the version as narrated by Sunil. However, we’re ascertaining the facts. It cannot be confirmed now if Tiwary alone had killed the brothers. The accused is being interrogated, while raids are being conducted to nab the absconding trio,” said the SSP.

First Published: Mar 16, 2019 03:33 IST