Nine days after a 25-year-old manтАЩs body was found stuffed in a steel box dumped in an intercity express train in Patna, the Government Railway Police (GRP) in BiharтАЩs Capital city on Wednesday said that they have cracked the case and arrested three persons, including a couple, on charges of murder.
The body of the victim, identified as Jagat Mahto, a resident of Sheikhpura district, was found in the general compartment of a Dhanbad-Patna intercity express when it arrived at Platform Number 9 of the Patna railway station on the late night of February 13. The youthтАЩs family had lodged a missing personтАЩs complaint at Sheikhpura on February 15 that led to the identification of the body.
The Patna GRP arrested the victimтАЩs friend Vickky Kumar alias Chhotu, his wife Nisha Kumari and friend Bittu Kumar from Lakhisarai district, officials said.
Jagat and Chhotu worked as labourers in Kolkata and both were close friends. The murder occurred over suspicion of JagatтАЩs illicit affair with ChhotuтАЩs wife, officials said.
тАЬWe recovered a CCTV footage from a medicine shop located outside the Lakhisarai railway station. In the video, a man was seen carrying a steel container on his head and entering the station. On the basis of that we apprehended the man who hails from Kabaiya police station area of Lakhisarai, later identified as Bittu Kumar. On his interrogation, it was found that his friend Vickky with the help of his newly wed wife (married in May 2022) killed the man,тАЭ said superintendent of railway police (SRP) A S Thakur.
тАЬOur investigations have revealed that Nisha was in a relationship with Jagat, whose marriage was scheduled for May this year. The woman called him to meet her and Vickky strangulated him to death,тАЭ said Thakur adding that he executed the entire plan after watching Crime Patrol and CID TV serials.
The SIT raided VickkyтАЩs house and arrested him with his wife. During interrogation, they confessed the crime and told the police that Jagat fell in love with Nisha and he met her in VickkyтАЩs absence. тАЬJagat left Kolkata on February 12 and reached Lakhisarai to meet my wife,тАЭ said Vickky.
To be sure, a confession or disclosure statement of any person made before a police officer is not admissible as evidence before a court unless it is backed by other evidence. Only a confession before a judge is admissible as evidence against an accused.
