Indore: The two accused who were booked by the police for shooting liquor contractor Arjun Thakur at the office of syndicate liquor businessmen on Monday, were finally arrested by the police from the Bhopal Bypass Road on Wednesday morning. However, sources claimed that they had surrendered before the police to avoid action against them. According to the police theory, the accused were planning to flee to Nepal and were on their way to Bhopal when they were arrested. The other accused, including Hemu Thakur, were on the run till the filing of this report.
Police version:
SP (East) Ashutosh Bagri said that three persons and their accomplices were booked for opening fire and injuring liquor contractor Thakur on Monday this week. Police teams were sent to Ujjain, Bhopal and Dewas in search of the accused. The police teams were continuously following the accused and two accused, Chintu Thakur and Satish Bhau, were arrested from the Bhopal Bypass Road early in the morning.
On the basis CCTV footage obtained from the syndicate office, three accused—Chintu, Satish Bhau and Hemu Thakur—were identified and the role of the other suspects is being investigated. Under the supervision of I-G Harinarayanachari Mishra and DIG Manish Kapooria, the police teams were working to track the accused. A team was also working for the arrest of the third accused, Hemu, and he would be arrested soon, SP Bagri added.
Bagri said that there was no doubt about the arrest of the accused as the police officers had examined the CCTV footage and booked the accused after identifying them. However, investigations are underway to establish the role of the other suspects in the case. Arjun had also given different statements to the police.
Accused arrested from Dewas Naka
Sources, however, claimed that the accused had surrendered to the police in the Dewas Naka area. They had surrendered before the police in Ujjain, from where they were taken to the Dewas Naka area, where the special investigating team (SIT) arrested them. However, the police claimed after the incident that the accused had fled to Ujjain—from where Chintu and Bhau fled to Jaora, Rajasthan, and Delhi. Later, they reached Gwalior and were planning to abscond to Nepal for two months. They had planned to take their shooters along and they were coming to Bhopal when they were arrested. According to the police, the accused were scared of the police as they came to know that the cops were collecting details of their property to demolish their illegal assets.
Action will be taken if conspirators found
On Tuesday, injured Arjun had written to the Vijay Nagar police and had demanded that the names of AK Singh and Pintu Bhatia be added in the FIR as they had called Arjun to the office for a ‘discussion’. Arjun claimed that Singh and Bhatia were the main conspirators behind the incident. However, the police denied this claim and said that the investigation was going on and the action would be taken against them if their conspiracy in the case was proved.
