Ex-minister arrested for Naxal links

New Delhi: The National Investigation Agency has arrested a former minister of Jharkhand, Gopal Krishna Patar, on charges of allegedly hatching a conspiracy with a group of Naxals to eliminate one of his political rivals, Ramesh Munda, who was an MLA, in 2008.

NIA officials claimed the accused, Patar alias Raja Peter, was arrested from Ranchi on Monday morning. Patar had scored a major political win when he defeated a senior Jharkhand political leader, Shibu Soren, who was also the chief of Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) in the Tamar bypoll. Following the defeat, Mr Soren had to resign as the state’s chief minister in 2009.

Patar later became a minister in the Arjun Munda government which incidentally had also recommended dissolution of the Assembly to the then governor Syed Ahmed.

Patar had joined the BJP in 2014 after being the chief of the state unit of Janata Dal (United), but he left the saffron party on being denied a ticket. He then contested the 2014 Lok Sabha polls as an independent candidate but lost. Earlier the investigating agency had arrested an assistant sub-inspector of the Jharkhand police, Sheshnath Singh, on charges of providing information on Ramesh Munda’s movements to Naxals.

Ramesh Munda, who was a JD(U) MLA, was gunned down by the Naxals while he was giving a speech at a local function in the Bundu area in his Assembly segment of Tamar on Juky 9, 2008. Two bodyguards of the political leader also died in the incident.

Investigations of the case were handed over to the NIA in June this year due to involvement of Naxals in a “political killing.’’ During the course of investigations, the NIA was able to find “sufficient evidence’’ to establish Patar’s role in the entire conspiracy following which he was arrested. NIA has now launched a hunt to trace the actual killers also.