Pandarak mukhiya shot over tender war: Police

PATNA: The newly-elected Purvi Pandarak panchayat mukhiya, Gorelal Yadav alias Priyaranjan (45), was killed in tender war, police sources said on Wednesday.
Yadav, along with ASI Rajesh Kumar (47) posted in Pandarak police station and one Lalbabu Das (50), was shot dead near a marriage hall at Bajitpur village under Barh police station area in rural Patna late Saturday night.They were attending the wedding of a trader’s daughter from Mamrakhabad in Pandarak.
A senior police officer privy to the investigation said Yadav was killed to eliminate the possibility of rivalry for tenders to be floated for construction of a cement factory on 130 acres of land in Pandarak. The estimated cost of the factory would be more than Rs1000 crore.
He said the notorious Bhola Singh gang was involved in the killings. Bhola was once a close associate of MLA Anant Singh, but became his rival a decade back over tender disputes. Police sources said Yadav had a dispute with Bhola sometime back over uprooting pillars on a plot of land in Pandarak.
“The stakes were high. The mukhiya’s killing was to be ensured no matter what. Thus, the shooters didn’t hesitate to kill the two others, too,” the officer said.
He said altogether nine persons, including Bhola, his brother and Paschimi Pandarak mukhiya Mukesh Singh, Bhola’s shooter Sooraj, Uday Narayan Sharma alias Uday Pahalwan and his three sons are named accused in the FIR lodged by Yadav’s brother Dharmraj Kumar.
“However, Dharmraj has not mentioned anything about the tender rivalry in the FIR. Police arrested Uday’s son Rakesh Singh alias Dablu (42) in the murder case. He was sent to jail on Tuesday. The others are evading arrest,” he said.
The officer said the killings seem to be a fallout of panchayat election rivalry as Yadav defeated Rajesh’s wife to become the mukhiya. “But the case is not so,” he said.
He said Yadav was close to Ram Janam Yadav, who was shot dead in a general coach of Patliputra-Hatia Express near Athmalgola station in Barh in February 2018. “Ram was also killed to eliminate rivalry over tender. But MLA Anant was a named accused in that case,” he said.