4 including contract killer caught for killing Vidisha contactor who filed RTIs

BHOPAL: Three local contractors in Madhya Pradesh’s Vidisha drict have been arrested on charges of killing Ranjeet Soni, a contractor who also filed right to information requests with the public works department (PWD), police said. Ankit Yadav, the 24-year-old who allegedly pulled the trigger, has also been caught.Soni was shot dead outside the PWD office in Vidisha, about 60km from state capital Bhopal.The hitman and three contractors, Aish Kumar Chaubey, Jaswant Raghuvanshi and Naresh Sharma, have been arrested, said Sameer Yadav, additional superintendent of police (addl SP), Vidisha.Yadav said the three accused told the police in their preliminary interrogation that they decided to eliminate Ranjeet Soni because he was creating trouble for them in the context of some contracts. Yadav did not elaborate, saying the investigation was still at its initial stages.The three allegedly hired Ankit Yadav, a resident of Raisen about 30km from Vidisha to kill Soni.“Yadav came on a bike and shot him on the head, and went back to his village in the neighbouring Raisen drict,” said Yadav.The contract killer was the first one to be tracked down and was arrested within hours of the crime. He allegedly told the police team that he was hired Jaswant Raghuvanshi, who named the others.The police officer said the accused and Soni had been rivals for some time and filed cross-cases in 2017, accusing the other of posing a threat to their life.Ranjeet Soni is also an accused in a cheque bounce case regered in 2016 which is still pending.

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She is a senior reporter based at Bhopal. She covers higher education, social issues, youth affairs, woman and child development related issues, sports and business & industries.
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