One of the key 'conspirators' arrested in Titagarh case

Kolkata: The investigators of the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) have recovered the firearm used to kill BJP leader Manish Shukla from the vicinity of Sodepur railway station on Thursday and also seized three motorcycles, including those two seen in the CCTV footage.

The police have also arrested another accused, identified as Subodh Yadav, who is suspected to be one of the conspirators.

Though the CID officials have nabbed four persons so far, they are yet to trace the sharp-shooters who were suspected to be hired and brought from some another state to kill Shukla. To find out the shooters, police are interrogating Yadav along with Nasir Khan who was arrested earlier. It is suspected that Yadav was one of the main conspirators as the CID officials have found that he was maintaining contact with the other accused persons on Sunday before and after the incident took place. Also, it is alleged that he had provided shelter to the shooters before Shukla's murder.

The investigating officials are more or less sure that the plan to kill Shukla was hatched a long time ago but the accused persons were in search of an opportune moment. For this, several people were engaged to keep an eye on the BJP leader's movement. On Sunday, when they saw Shukla was without his personal security guards, they decided to shoot him. However, the facts still need to be corroborated. CID officials also suspect involvement of others in this case.