VIJAY DEO JHA
Ranchi, March 14: The AJSU Party chief and MLA Sudesh Mahto on Monday demanded the Hemant Soren government for the reinvestigation of the murder of three top leaders of the JMM and the separate Jharkhand movement.
During the chief minister’s question hour, Sudesh Mahto said that Nirmal Mahto ( 8th August 1987), Shaktinath Mahto (28th November 1977) and Sunil Mahto (4th March 2007) were important leaders of Jharkhand who were murdered. He said the government should hand over the investigation of this case to the National Investigation Agency.
“These were political killings and the conspiracy must have to be unearthed. It is necessary to catch masterminds,” Sudesh Mahto said.
Answering the question, the chief minister said that the said question of the member was not related to the policy matter. He said that the CBI investigated the murder of Sushil Mahto and the charge sheet was submitted. In the other two cases, the court convicted the accused.
The NIA is investigating several cases related to Naxal incidents out of which one case is related to the murder of the then JD (U) MLA from Tamar, Ramesh Singh Munda.
But in the case of Sunil Mahto, then Jamshedpur MP, her wife Suman Mahto has long been demanding a probe by the NIA as she was not happy with the tardy CBI probe. Sunil Mahto was very popular among people. He was watching a football match in Ghatshila on the day of Holi on March 4, 2007, when he was shot by a CPI(Maoist) squad led by Ranjit Pal alias Rahul. Two of his bodyguards and a party worker also died in the attack.
The CBI despite best efforts was unable to question Rahul who surrendered before Bengal police in 2017 along with his wife Anita. The CBI had sought permission from the Bengal government but the permission was not granted. The CBI had taken over this case in 2008 and in 2010 it submitted a charge sheet naming Rahul as the mastermind.
