Jharkhand Police solve CCL employee’s murder in Hazaribagh, say compassionate job was motive

Hazaribagh: Jharkhand's Hazaribagh police have claimed that they have solved the murder of Central Coalfields Limited (CCL) employee Manglesh Pal alias Happy within 24 hours, arresting his wife, Sonali, and her cousin and alleged lover, Kaushik Kumar Naunia.

A minor has also been detained in connection with the case.

Police said they recovered sharp-edged weapons used in the murder along with other key evidence.

Barkagaon SDPO Amit Anand, while addressing a press conference here on Monday, said the conspiracy to kill Manglesh had been going on for nearly a year.

According to police, Sonali and Kaushik had earlier made several attempts to eliminate Manglesh Pal but had failed.

Investigators claimed that Sonali wanted to secure a job with CCL on compassionate grounds following her husband's death and that this was the motive behind the murder.

Police said that after the killing, Sonali tried to conceal her involvement by misleading investigators and local residents. She claimed that unidentified assailants had entered the house, tied her up with a rope, and taped her mouth before brutally killing her husband.

According to the police, she tried to make the killing appear to be the work of outsiders, possibly during a robbery, and divert suspicion away from her. However, evidence found at the crime scene, along with forensic and technical examination, contradicted her version, police said.

A Special Investigation Team (SIT), constituted on the directions of the Hazaribagh Superintendent of Police, examined the crime scene with the assistance of the State Forensic Science Laboratory (SFSL), fingerprint experts, and a dog squad.

Police said that during questioning based on technical and circumstantial evidence, the accused allegedly confessed to the crime.

During the investigation, police recovered a bloodstained knife, a cloth allegedly used for cleaning, two mobile phones, the burnt mobile phones of the victim and his wife, and bloodstained clothes and footwear belonging to the accused.

Police said Kaushik was staying illegally in a CCL quarter near Citizen Forum School in Giddi, while the detained minor is a resident of Mandatand in Giddi Basti.

The two adult accused have been sent to jail, while proceedings against the minor are being conducted under the juvenile justice law, police said.

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