As sought by the CBI, which said the proximity of police officers in Kunda to some influential persons was affecting the probe into the March 2 triple murder, the Uttar Pradesh government on Wednesday transferred the entire staff of the four police stations in the area.
The CBI is probing the murders of Deputy Superintendent of Police Zia-ul-Haque, gram pradhan Nanhe Yadav and his brother Suresh Yadav at Balipur in Pratapgarh district.
The Kunda MLA and former Minister, Raghuraj Pratap Singh alias Raja Bhaiya, named as an accused in the fourth FIR, has been charged with criminal conspiracy in the murder of the DSP. Though a close aide of the former Minister, Akhshay Pratap Singh, has been questioned, Raja Bhaiya is yet to be interrogated.
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Suspecting that station officers of Kunda, Hathigawan, Manikpur and Nawabganj, Prakash Rai, Nishi Kant Rai, Pankaj Kumar Singh and Arvind Kumar Singh, were influencing the witnesses, the CBI shot off a letter to the State government seeking their transfer.
Home Secretary S.N. Upadhaya told journalists here on Wednesday that the March 28 letter was written by R.S. Bhati, Joint Director, Special Crime Zone, CBI Headquarters. It was addressed to Director-General of Police A.C. Sharma and Principal Secretary, Home, R.M. Srivastava. The request was received on April 1.