Mastermind in teacher murder case arrested

Mastermind in the murder of a retired school teacher in Salempur village in Haridwar district was arrested on Monday from Roorkee, an official said. Nakli Singh Saini, 66, was shot dead at his home in Salempur on April 16.

Thath Singh, a resident of Uttar Pradesh’s Saharanpur, was arrested on a tip-off, the official said.

On May 5, Police arrested four other accused Kuldeep Kala, Dhirendra, Ankit and Balendra from Roorkee.

Thath told police that he had given ₹5 lakh to contract killer Kuldeep alias Kala to kill Saini, who had a land dispute with him.

Thath has served jail term for murdering the brother of Saini in 2013 over the property dispute. Thath alleged that he was wrongly framed by Saini in the murder case and desperate to take revenge after getting bail.

Two other accused - Gaurav and Ajay – in the retired school teacher murder case are still at large, with police interrogating the arrested people to know their whereabouts.

“A Gang Nahar police station team in coordination with the crime investigation unit (CIU) has succeeded in disclosing this case with arrest of five accused, while separate teams are already in operational search of the other two accused,” said MK Mishra, the superintendent of rural police.

Notably, director general of police AK Raturi and senior superintendent of police Haridwar Krishan Kumar VK has already announced ₹20,000 and ₹10,000 cash award respectively from their sides to the investigating team.

Meanwhile, police are carrying out verification drive in villages near Industrial estate of SIDCUL, where several cases of tenants being involved in criminal activities has come to light in recent time.

Notice to 50-odd landlords has been served by police of ₹10,000 each for not carrying out verification of their tenants.

“We are carrying out tenant verification drive in SIDCUL to rein in rising crime graph in the area. As thousands of workers, labourers and employees from within the state and other states are working in SIDCUL factories, tenant verification is a must,” said circle officer (sadar) Ruchita Juyal.