Saran police team arrested two contract killers at Simri village under Mashrakh police station on Monday.

 

The police said that acting on a tip-off that some criminals had assembled at an isolated house at village Simri, a police team led by Marhaura SDPO Dilnawaz Ahmad carried out a raid and arrested the two criminals with two countrymade pistols.

Ahmad said that these contract killers, who have been identified as Kaushal Yadav alias Pahalwanji, a native of Saharsa district, and Paras Sah, a native of Madhepura district, were allegedly hired by a mukhiya candidate from Simri panchayat in Saran district Chanchal Singh to eliminate a local liquor dealer, Arjun Singh. He said that the mukhiya candidate had promised to pay Rs 5 lakh to these killers if he won the election and Rs 2 lakh in the event of his defeat.

The SDPO said that Pahalwanji had been chargesheeted in over dozen of cases of murder, dacoity, loot and kidnapping lodged with different police stations in Purnia, Saharsa, Madhepura and Supaul districts. He said that recently Pahalwanji was involved in the murder of mukhiya of Sarona Panchayat in Saharsa when he refused to pay him rangdari for every work in the panchayat.

Ahmad said that Pahalwanji was also involved in a kidnapping case in Madhepura district and had demanded Rs 5 lakh as ransom.

The SDPO said that Sah was also evading arrest in cases of murder, dacoity and loot. He said that the criminals told the police that they were also planning to loot Shahzadpur branch of Gramin Bank.