Dehradun, April 8 The Uttarakhand Special Task Force arrested accused shooter Rinku Sharma, alias 'Pandit', on Wednesday for his alleged involvement in the murder of Councillor Prakash Singh Dhami six years ago in the Udham Singh Nagar district, officials said.
He was carrying a reward of Rs 25,000.
Special Task Force (STF) SSP Ajay Singh said that acting swiftly on a tip-off received early in the morning from an informer regarding the accused shooter's presence in Rudrapur -- the headquarters of Udham Singh Nagar district -- a joint team of the STF and local police cordoned off the area and launched a search operation, leading to the arrest of Pandit (32).
He said that Pandit, a native of the Morena district in Madhya Pradesh, is an interstate professional shooter who had been absconding since the councillor's murder in 2020.
The SSP further explained that Dhami, a BJP-backed councillor from a ward in Rudrapur, was shot dead in broad daylight outside his residence on October 12, 2020.
Investigation revealed that the murder was the result of a political rivalry and a turf war for regional dominance, according to officials, who added that professional shooters from Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh were allegedly hired for a sum of approximately Rs 4 lakh to carry out the assassination.
In connection with this case, the police had registered a case against seven accused individuals under the Gangster Act. While six of the accused were subsequently arrested, Pandit managed to evade the police for a prolonged period by constantly changing his hideouts.
The SSP said the STF devised a specific strategy to apprehend the absconding accused, which involved continuously analysing intelligence inputs received regarding his whereabouts. He added that an STF team had been maintaining constant surveillance on the accused's activities for nearly a month prior to his arrest.
He further disclosed that the arrested accused has approximately a dozen criminal cases against him across Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand, involving charges such as murder, attempted murder, robbery, dacoity, extortion, and violations under the Gangster Act.
Singh stated that operations will continue unabated under 'Operation Prahar', an initiative launched by the state police to apprehend wanted and absconding criminals involved in heinous crimes who carry bounties on their heads.