Jharkhand: Palamu police arrest murder accused within hours of FIR registration
THE JHARKHAND STORY NETWORK Daltonganj, July 29: In a swift breakthrough, Palamu Police arrested the prime accused in the murder of a…
SDPO Chhaterpur Prashant Kumar addresses a press conference after the arrest of murder accused Mora Singh in Chhaterpur on Tuesday.
THE JHARKHAND STORY NETWORK
Daltonganj, July 29: In a swift breakthrough, Palamu Police arrested the prime accused in the murder of a 50-year-old Dalit man within hours of the registration of the FIR, an action police officials described as one of the fastest murder case detections in the district in recent years.
Dalit man hacked to death while playing cards
According to police, Prabhunath Rajwar (50) was allegedly attacked with a sharp-edged baluwa (axe-like weapon) around 1.30 pm on Monday at Madhubana village under Pipra police station while he was playing cards beneath a banyan tree. He succumbed to his injuries while being taken to Medinirai Medical College and Hospital (MMCH), Daltonganj.
Eyewitnesses reportedly saw the assailant flee from the spot, leaving behind the weapon used in the crime.
FIR names lone accused
Police identified the accused as Ramesh Singh alias Mora Singh (55), a resident of the same village. The victim’s family named him as the sole accused in the FIR lodged by the deceased’s brother, Shyam Lal Rajwar, on Tuesday.
The Pipra police registered the case under the relevant provisions of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) for murder, along with sections of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act.
Massive manhunt leads to quick arrest
Addressing a press conference at Chhaterpur, Sub-Divisional Police Officer (SDPO) Prashant Kumar said Palamu Superintendent of Police Kapil Chaudhary had constituted a team and directed officers to arrest the accused without delay.
According to an official police press note, a large-scale search operation was launched immediately after the murder. Investigators believed the accused had escaped through a forest route but remained within Palamu district.
Police later traced and arrested Mora Singh from Parwa on Tuesday.
Police claim accused cited caste-based motive
According to the police press note, the accused allegedly confessed during interrogation and claimed that the murder stemmed from a long-standing personal grudge.
Police said the accused told investigators that he was deeply offended after the victim allegedly abused him during the Durga Puja festivities last year. The press note further states that the accused allegedly expressed resentment over being abused by a Dalit man and claimed those remarks continued to trouble him for months.
Police said the accused allegedly admitted that he killed Rajwar in retaliation and also disclosed that he harboured longstanding animosity towards the victim.
The statements attributed to the accused have been made by police, and their veracity will be determined during the course of the investigation and trial.
Following his arrest, Mora Singh was produced before a court and remanded to judicial custody on Tuesday, police said. Further investigation is underway.
