In a breakthrough in the Kunda triple murder case probe, the police on Saturday recovered the missing service revolver of the slain DSP Zia-ul-Haque.
“Around 3-4 p.m., a young girl spotted the revolver on a field not far from the Ballipur chouraha [crossing], and drew the attention of some PAC personnel, who recovered it,” Asharam Yadav, Additional Superintendent of Police, Pratapgarh, told The Hindu .
According to sources, the weapon may have been loaded when it was spotted.
On Friday, the police raided villages in Pratapgarh and Allahabad in search of the revolver.
However, the DSP’s mobile phone was yet to be retrieved, Mr. Yadav said.
Meanwhile, the two main accused in the case of the murder of Ballipur pradhan Nanhe Yadav surrendered before the CBI in its Kunda tehsil camp. Kamta Pal and his son, Ajay Pal had gone missing from the village since the March 2 incident. Now they are being interrogated by the CBI, sources said, adding a team of the agency also quizzed Nanhe Yadav’s in-laws.
With the surrender of the duo, three of the four accused in the case are in custody. The fourth accused, Ajit Kumar Singh, is yet to be nabbed.
In another development, a CBI team again visited the Chief Medical Officer’s office in Pratapgarh to study the post mortem reports on Haque and Suresh Yadav, brother of the pradhan who was also killed that night.
Earlier this week, the CBI verified signatures on the post mortem report and raised questions on the changes on the panel which conducted post mortem on the three slain people.
In its attempt to reconstruct the sequence of events, the CBI took persons considered close to Kunda MLA Raghuraj Pratap Singh, including Sanjeev Pratap Singh alias Guddu Singh and Rajeev Pratap, to the spot and quizzed them. Guddu and Rajeev are in police remand.
The CBI is yet to determine what weapon was used to fire the bullet that felled the DSP.
Narco test
The CBI has sought permission of the special CBI court in Lucknow for a narco-analysis test on the suspended officer in-charge of the Kunda station, Sarvesh Misra.
There were inconsistencies in his statement. He told the CBI that after he heard of the murder of the pradhan, he left for the spot with four constables, while in the GD entry he mentioned only two constables.
The hearing is scheduled for March 22.
The agency has also traced Nanhe Yadav’s son, Yogendra alias Babloo, who is believed to be an eyewitness to the shootout.
The Station Officer of Manikpur has been questioned about his role in probing illegal sand mining in the region. The slain DSP and the Sub-divisional Magistrate had conducted an operation against illegal mining on January 18.
