Land deal behind Gopal Khemka murder, claims Bihar police

Patna: Bihar Police on Tuesday claimed to have achieved a breakthrough in the Gopal Khemka murder case and blamed the killing of the renowned businessman on a land deal that went awry.

At a press conference here, DGP Vinay Kumar, among others, said the handgun used to shoot Khemka has been recovered from a hideout of the alleged shooter.

Khemka, reportedly associated with the BJP, was shot dead by a bike-borne assailant at 11.40 pm on July 4, seven years after miscreants had gunned down his son in Hajipur.

The incident had taken place near the gate of Khemka's house in Gandhi Maidan locality as he was about to alight from his car.

"As stated earlier, gunman Umesh Yadav was arrested yesterday, besides Ashok Shaw, by whom he was paid an advance amount of Rs 50,000 for murdering Khemka," said the DGP.

The conspiracy to kill Khemka was planned around one and a half months ago.

Shaw, another businessman, gave a contract of Rs 4 lakh to Umesh Yadav to eliminate Khemka, paying Rs 50,000 in advance, the police officer said.

The remaining Rs 3.5 lakh was paid to him on the morning of July 5 at JP Ganga Path, hours after the murder, he said.

"We have recovered the gun, used to shoot at Khemka, besides a large number of cartridges from Yadav's place. Police also recovered 59 cartridges, a pistol with 14 magazines. Shaw is said to be involved in property business, and prima facie it was a land deal that led him to hire the contract killer," added the DGP.

He, however, did not divulge any further details, saying the investigation was still on.

The police also searched the premises of Shaw and recovered several electronic devices, technical and scientific evidence and incriminating documents, including papers related to several land deals, he said.

Those will be examined, and investigators will match them with the findings of Khemka’s call detail records and documents stored in the deceased’s computer.

The sleuths have recovered one pistol of .38 bore, 17 live cartridges and a mobile phone which was used to communicate with the shooter, Umesh Yadav, he said.

Umesh Yadav and Ashok Shaw came into contact about one and a half years ago during a wedding in Nalanda. Since then, Umesh executed multiple assignments for Shaw, the police officer said.

“The clear picture of the exact motive behind the incident will emerge after completion of the scientific analysis of technical evidence. We will examine several others also in connection with the case. We also examined one Ajay Verma, lodged in Patna’s Beur jail, in connection with the case”, said the DGP.

He said that Shaw also provided one mobile phone, a 9 mm pistol, two magazines, 18 live cartridges, a photograph of Gopal Khemka, and his car’s registration number to the shooter.

After killing Khemka, Umesh fled on a bike via Jamal Road and Patna Bypass, returning home in Malsalami, where he hid the clothes, helmet, and weapon used in the commission of the crime.

“The CCTV footage helped the Special Investigation Team (SIT) identify Umesh Yadav’s bike, leading police to Malsalami, where locals confirmed his identity,” he said.

“Investigations also revealed that Umesh needed money to pay the school fee of his children and after receiving Rs 50,000 in advance, he went to the school and paid the outstanding fee, approximately Rs 45,000, the next morning”, he said.

Initially, Umesh approached Vikas Kumar alias Raja to execute the murder, but Raja demanded Rs 4 lakh in cash. Hence, Umesh decided to carry out the murder himself, the DGP said.

Khemka and Ashok Shaw had altercations on several issues earlier, including one at Patna’s Bankipore Club last year.

"It is suspected that Vikas, a resident of Malslami locality of Patna, also provided some support to Umesh. Vikas was killed in a gunfight with the police in Patna's Damaria Ghat area in the early hours of Tuesday”, said Patna SSP Kartikeya Sharma.

However, family members of Vikas questioned the way police killed him in the encounter.

On this, the DGP said, “The encounter took place as per the guidelines issued by the authorities concerned”.

Replying to a query, the DGP said, "We are probing as to whether there was any common thread between Khemka's killing and the murderous assault on his two sons seven years ago." Khemka's son Gunjan was gunned down in Hajipur, about 30 km from the state capital, in 2018.

His elder brother Gaurav demanded security after his father's murder.