What we know is that the vehicle used in the crime was put on the market in Ballia. For the investigators, following where it was bought is now top of mind as they ratchet up the pressure to find the Ballia-based suspect.
There is talk of a modest resale that could be the key to the whole thing. According to those on the ground, the car tied to the killing of Chandranath Rath was a Ballia purchase.
Alleged sale details from Phulwaria
Jitendra Singh of Phulwaria, in the Bansdih Road police station’s jurisdiction, has some details. He says a man he knows as Mitthu, or Deepak, came to him in October for a Nissan Micra and put down Rs 35,000 for it. Jitendra claims it was later offloaded on May 1 to Gyanendra Pratap, who goes by Mannu, for Rs 50,000.
A CBI unit made a house call to Jitendra not long ago to put some questions to him about the car. “I told them everything I knew,” he says.
Raids intensify as key suspect eludes arrest
You can see a video doing the rounds on social media of the CBI at work in Sheetal Davni village, in the area of the Bansdih Road station. They were after Mannu but didn’t have any luck. Vansh Bahadur Singh, the SHO for the station, will confirm the raid happened in the last few days, but Mannu had already made himself scarce. No one from his family was there, either.
Omveer Singh, the SP, puts it plainly: the CBI is in charge. Local police don’t have much to say on what the agency is up to.
Then there is the matter of Raj Kumar Singh, alias Raj Singh, who was picked up in Muzaffarnagar. The CBI is looking into whether he and Mannu have any history; some photos of the pair have come to light online.
Network under scrutiny and cache of arms seized
Not long ago, the UP STF, acting on a tip from the CBI, cuffed Naveen Kumar Singh in Ballia. They found a cache of weapons on him – pistols, revolvers, the works. Under questioning, Naveen is said to have let on that on May 7, Mannu and Raj Kumar, along with a fellow named Golu, met with him and he was given a bag of guns. Naveen then showed the STF to a showroom on the national highway where the arms were to be found.
Raj Kumar is in custody. Gyanendra and Golu are not. Police have 12 cases on file against Mannu in Ballia alone, for things like murder and attempted murder, and another in Chhattisgarh.
The victim and the wider case
It all comes back to what happened on May 6 in North 24 Parganas, when Chandranath Rath was put down at point-blank range just before the election results. It was a case bound to cause some friction and has drawn in the CBI, the UP STF and the West Bengal Police.
The fact that the car was a Ballia buy gives the probe a cross-border edge. With the suspect still out there, the purchase record and the arms are being followed as closely as possible. The CBI is running the show, and the local force in Ballia is staying out of the way of their routine.
Here are the key developments investigators are working with:
– The car used in the murder was bought in Ballia.
– A Nissan Micra changed hands for Rs 35,000, then Rs 50,000.
– CBI and STF raids are ongoing across Ballia.
– Arms, including pistols and revolvers, were seized.
– The victim was killed on May 6.
– Two suspects remain absconding.
What investigators say and what comes next
Right now, it is a question of finding Mannu and making sure the story checks out – the car, the handover of the weapons, the links to Raj and Golu. You can expect more of the same: some more raids, some more hard questions, and a lot of fact-finding.
