NIA arrests key accused in Karni Sena chief’s murder after raids at 31 locations

NEW DELHI: The National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Wednesday arrested a key accused and recovered a huge cache of weapons during raids at multiple locations in Rajasthan and Haryana in connection with the murder of Shri Rashtriya Rajput Karni Sena (SRRKS) chief Sukhdev Singh Gogamedi last month.
The arrested accused, Ashok Kumar, is closely associated with gangster Rohit Godara, who took responsibility through social media for the murder of Gogamedi. Godara is linked to jailed gangster Lawrence Bishnoi.
With Kumar’s arrest, the total number of people arrested in the murder stands at nine. Previous eight arrests were made by the Rajasthan police.
Gogamedi was killed along with another person, Naveen Shekhawat, while two persons were injured in the sensational daylight shootout at Karni Sena chief’s Shyam Nagar residence in Jaipur on December 5, 2023. The shooters were identified as Rohit Rathore, a resident of Jhotwara in Jaipur, and Nitin Fauji from Mahendragarh, Haryana. The murder sparked widespread protests across the state. One of the injured persons, Ajeet Singh, later succumbed in the hospital.
The federal anti-terror probe agency took over the probe from the police on December 11 and had since then questioned several suspects based on which Wednesday’s raids at 31 locations were planned.
“As part of its ongoing investigations, the NIA today raided a total of 31 locations, including the houses of the accused persons and several suspects, in Rajasthan and the neighbouring state of Haryana. NIA teams made exhaustive searches of the premises and seized a large number of pistols, ammunition, digital devices, including mobile phones, SIM cards and DVRs etc, as well as incriminating documents related to financial transactions,” NIA said in a statement.
“A key suspect, Ashok Kumar, was arrested from one of the locations following the recovery of several arms and ammunition from his premises in Jhunjhunu, Rajasthan,” it added.
Kumar’s questioning, the statement said, exposed his suspicious role in the case and revealed his association with the notorious gangster Rohit Godara, who had allegedly motivated the two shooters to murder Gogamedi, president of SRRKS.
The federal agency said that sustained interrogation of the arrested accused and suspects revealed the involvement of hardcore criminals and members of organised criminal gangs, based out of Haryana and Rajasthan in the murder.
“All the accused and suspects were found to have been associated with the accused persons before and after the murder of Gogamedi, as per the NIA investigations, which are still continuing,” it added.
Lawrence Bishnoi, in custody since 2015, has been operating his terror-crime syndicate from jails in different states. NIA is already investigating activities of Bishnoi gang in various parts of the country and abroad including his association with pro-Khalistan elements (PKEs).