Ex-RJD MP's shooter among 2 held for Bihar scribe's murder

Ranjan was one of the 23 people named in the 'death warrant list' issued in 2007. Seven of them have been killed so far, reports M I Khan from Patna.

The Bihar police has arrested a shooter of jailed former member of Parliament Mohammad Shahabuddin in connection with the killing of a senior journalist of Hindi daily Hindustan in Siwan district, police said on Saturday.

Rajdeo Ranjan, 46, the Siwan bureau chief of the Hindi newspaper, which is part of the HT Media, was shot dead at a busy market near the Station Road on Friday night. He was cremated in Siwan on Saturday.

“Upender Singh, a known shooter of Shahabuddin has been arrested in connection with the killing of Ranjan,” a district police official said.

Singh is one of the two people arrested and interrogated by police in this case. 

Police is also interrogating Singh to get information about other people behind this incident.

Siwan superintendent of police Saurav Kumar Sah said Ranjan was killed by professional shooters.

According to police sources, Ranjan was in the hit list of criminals since 2007.”

A ‘death warrant list’ of 23 people -- including Ranjan -- was issued from Siwan jail then, he said.

Till date, seven of those in the list have been killed.

Senior Bharatiya Jnata Party leader and former deputy chief minister Sushil Kumar Modi alleged that Ranjan was killed by criminals following a signal from Shahabuddin.

Shahabuddin, a former Rashtriya Janata Dal MP, was last year sentenced to life imprisonment -- along with three others -- by a district court in connection with the brutal murder of two brothers by pouring acid on them 11 years ago in Siwan.

Shahabuddin is lodged in Siwan central jail for the past several years. He represented the Siwan constituency for four times, from 1996 to 2009, as a member of the RJD. After his conviction, he could not contest Parliamentary elections in 2009 and 2014.

His wife Heena Sahab lost the elections on an RJD ticket in 2009 and 2014 to Om Prakash Yadav, who is now in the Bharatiya Janata Party.

Shabuddin’s electoral career had started in 1989 when he was elected as a member of legislative assembly from Jiradei seat.