KOLKATA: The Chandannagar City Police in Hooghly district on Friday arrested three persons in connection with the murder of a Bihar-based scribe named Subhash Kumar Mahto.
The arrested persons have have been identified as Sourav Kumar (18), Priyangshu Kumar (21) and Roshon Kumar (22), all residents of a village under Bakhri police station in Begusarai district in Bihar, where Mahto was shot dead on May 20.
According to Vidit Raj Bhundesh, Deputy Commissioner of Chandannagar City Police, the three accused were hiding in Chandannagar under the fake names.
"They claimed to be residents of Madhya Pradesh and also had supporting fake documents. Every evening they would visit the banks of River Ganges at Chandannagar, " Bundesh said.
It is learnt that since they were new faces in the locality, their movements created doubts among the local people who also used to visit the banks of the river to enjoy the evening breeze.
Finally, one of them informed the local police station and the three were summoned by the cops for questioning.
"Initially, they claimed that they were residents of Madhya Pradesh and also furnished fake documents in support of their claims. However, there were lots of inconsistencies in their statements following which our officials interrogated them further.
"Finally, they disclosed their real identities and also confessed that they were from a village in Begusarai district where Subhash Kumar Mahto was killed in May. We contacted our counterparts at the Bakhri police station, who confirmed the trio's involvement behind the murder of the scribe, " Bhundesh informed newspersons.
The three arrested persons are currently under the custody of Chandannagar City Police and a team from Bakhri police station will shortly reach Chandannagar to take them back to Bihar under transit remand.
Mahto's killing created countrywide ripples with local journalists in Bihar alleging that liquor and sand mafias were behind his murder as he was extensively reporting on this menace.
He was killed on the evening of May 20 while he was returning home from a community dinner along with his father and some other relatives.