Joint investigation carried out by the Central Investigation Bureau (CIB) in the coordination with the District and Regional Police Offices has also led to the arrest of three persons, including two Indian nationals in connection with the murder of Mohammad Alam, UML´s FPTP candidate from constituency-4 of Bara. [break]
CIB Chief DIG Prakash Aryal said, "UML leader Kushwaha masterminded the murder using contract killers from India and Dubai [the UAE]. However the contract killers are still at large and we are intensifying the investigation with the support from the police of the concerned countries."
During a press conference organized at the District Police Office, Bara on Monday, the police made public Kushawha along with two ´accomplices´, identified as Atik Khan Aalam of Aligarh in India, who has been living in Birganj-15 and Raju Srivastav, from bordering Indian town of Raxaul.
Srivastav is a journalist by profession.
According to the police, UML leader Kushwaha, who was elected to the last Constitution Assembly under the proportional representation system, masterminded the murder plot over the last six months.
Kushwaha was in constant touch with the contract killers from India and Dubai. Kushwaha in collusion with Raju Srivastav, had planned the murder apparently to settle old scores, the police said.
Kushwaha and Srivastav then entrusted Atik Khan to hire sharp shooters for the purpose, the police further informed, adding that Atik Khan hired three Indian contract killers and made food and accommodation arrangement for them.
The contract killers had entered Birgunj through Raxaul on August 30, and had stayed at room number 103 of Hotel Rani Pokhari in Birgunj.
After the shooters did not find Alam in his home village two of them had even traveled to Kathmandu on September 5 with the aim to kill Alam in the capital city.
According to police reports, the shooters, who came to the Kathmandu Valley were not only looking for Alam but also for another man, whose identity remains unknown.
They mistakenly opened fired at an Indian national Mahammud Samashul in front of the Prakash Party Palace at Jorpati-Narayantar on September 26.
Samashul has been running a tailor shop at Jorpati for the past few years.
"We are yet to identify the man the contract killers were looking for in Jorpati but it has been confirmed that the same shooters who shot at Alam were involved in the Jorpati case," DIG Aryal.
After the failed attempt, the shooters remained in Raxaul until Kushwaha called them through Atik Khan to Birgunj on October 2.
The shooters staying at a guesthouse at Ghantaghar area waited for the right moment to attack Alam, and finally executed their plan on October 4 while Alam was holding an electoral campaign.
The police have further suspected that Kushwaha´s brother Sumeshwar, who was recently released after serving a prison sentence on the charge of dealing in fake Indian currency notes and narcotic drugs, might be also involved in the murder.
Kushwaha had served as personal assistant to Salim Miya Ansari, then UML leader from Bara, while he was the minister for forests and land conservation in the Manamohan Adhikari-led government in 1994.
Kushwaha had become underground after Alam murder case which made police even more suspicious.
Alam was shot at Chainpur Chowk of Bara district along the Pathlaiya-Birgunj road while he was talking on the phone on October 4.
Critically injured Alam was airlifted to Kathmandu for the treatment but he had breathed his last on October 10.
Meanwhile, Kushwaha´s family organized another press meet and refuted all the allegations labeled against Kushwaha.
The family alleged that the police and the administration were plotting against Kushwaha.
Related story
Alam has been framed, argues Alam's lawyer Raman Shrestha
