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 firearm used to shoot at Khemka, outside his residence here on Saturday night, has been recovered from a hideout of the alleged shooter.

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

"We have recovered the gun, used to shoot at Khemka, besides a large number of cartridges from Yadav's place. Saw 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.

Replying to a query, he said, "We are probing as to whether there was any common thread between Khemka's killing and the murderous assault on his two sons eight years ago."

Gopal Khemka was shot dead outside his residence in Patna by a bike-borne assailant at 11.40 pm on Friday, seven years after miscreants had gunned down his son in Hajipur.

The incident had taken place near the gate of Khemka's house in the Gandhi Maidan locality.

Khemka's two sons were sprayed with bullets in Hajipur, about 30 km from the state capital, in 2018.

His younger son Gunjan, was killed while the surviving elder brother Gaurav has demanded security after his father's murder outside their residence on a crowded street here.