The CBI achieved a major breakthrough in the triple murders in Uttar Pradesh’s Pratapgarh district when it recovered the fully loaded service revolver of slain DSP Zia-ul-Haq from a village pond close to the spot where village pradhan Nanhe Yadav was shot dead. The sidearm had been missing since the DSP was murdered on March 2.
The two main accused in the murder of the village pradhan in Kunda, Pratapgarh district, have surrendered before the CBI, which is investigating the murder of DSP Zia-ul-Haq, the village head and his brother Suresh in Walipur village on March 2.
It has registered four cases related to the triple murders.
Former minister Raghuraj Pratap Singh, aka Raja Bhaiyya, is named in one of the FIRs filed by the DSP’s widow.
CBI sources said Kamta Prasad Pal and his son Ajay Kumar Pal, both named in the FIR filed in the murder of village pradhan Nanhe Yadav, which triggered violence and led to the murder of the village pradhan’s brother and DSP Zia-ul-Haq, surrendered before the CBI at their camp office in Kunda and are being interrogated.
Kamta Pal and the slain Nanhe Yadav had turned bitter rivals after Yadav won the village pradhan election.
An angry mob had set Pal’s house on fire after the murder of the village pradhan on March 2.