Charges framed on five in coal merchant murder case

Kolkata (IANS). The Special Investigation Team (SIT) of the West Bengal Police has filed the first chargesheet in the murder case of coal baron Raju Jha. Five people have been made accused in this.

The names of the five accused are Indrajit Giri, Abhijit Mandal, Pawan Kumar, Mukesh Kumar and Lalbabu Kumar. The chargesheet was presented in the court of Chief Judicial Magistrate Chanda Hasmat on Saturday evening.

The accused have been charged under sections 302 (murder) and 307 (attempt to murder) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and various sections of the Arms Act, 1959. A total of 80 witnesses have been named in the charge sheet.

The murder took place on the evening of April 1 this year in East Burdwan district. District Superintendent of Police Kamnasish Sen said that a supplementary charge sheet will also be filed soon in this case.

“We have filed the first charge sheet in the case within 106 days. Another supplementary charge sheet will also be filed soon, about which we have informed the Chief Judicial Magistrate’s court,” Sen said on Sunday.

Jha was shot dead on the evening of April 1 on National Highway-19 near a sweet shop at Shaktigarh in East Burdwan district. His aide Brotin Bandyopadhyay, who was traveling with him in an SUV, was injured in the attack.

Jha reportedly had a criminal record. A few months after the Trinamool Congress came to power in West Bengal in July 2011, the police arrested him in Raniganj but he was out on bail. Since then he has been arrested several times. He joined the BJP two years ago at the time of the 2021 West Bengal assembly elections and was very active in the campaigning process for the saffron camp.

He was also questioned by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in connection with its probe into the multi-crore coal smuggling scam in the state.