Chh’garh: 3 held, teenage boy detained for murder of BJP leader in Korba

Korba: Three persons, including a construction contractor, were arrested and a 15-year-old boy was detained in connection with the murder of a local BJP leader in Chhattisgarh’s Korba district, police said on Wednesday.

Those arrested have been identified as contractor Mirza Mustaq Ahmed (27), Gulshan Das (26), both residents of Malda village, and Vishwajeet Ograi (21) of Singhia Korbi village, all located in the district, a senior police official said. A teenage boy allegedly involved in the crime was also held, he said.

On Tuesday, Akshay Garg, a member of Katghora janpad panchayat and a construction contractor, was attacked by three masked men with sharp edged weapons leading to his death.

During interrogation, Mustaq told police that he wanted to take up contract work in the area but was allegedly unable to get projects due to Garg’s influence there. The two were also rivals during the janpad elections, he said. After Garg’s victory in janpad polls, Mustaq’s social and political influence in the area reportedly declined and apparently angered over it, he allegedly decided to kill him, he said.

On Tuesday morning when Garg had gone to Keshalpur village to inspect his road construction project under the Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY), masked assailants arrived in a black car and attacked him with sharp-edged weapons, he said.