 "Siwan journalist slaying: Key accused surrenders after court attaches property")
Laddan Mian, one of the main accused in journalist Rajdeo Ranjan's murder case and a close associate of jailed Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) strongman Mohammad Shahbuddin, today surrendered before the Chief Judicial Magistrate court in Siwan.
Chief Judicial Magistrate (CJM) Arvind Kumar Singh remanded Laddan Mian to 14-day judicial custody.
Mian, who is the resident of Ram Nagar area under town police station of the district, surrendered three days after the CJM court ordered pasting of notice to attach his properties.
The notice gave two days' time to Laddan Mian to give himself up to the police else his house would be attached.
Following the issuance of notice for attachment, Mian's three sisters had moved the court saying that they too had share in the properties for which notice was issued.
Rajdeo Ranjan, district bureau head of a leading regional newspaper, was shot dead by unidentified men when he was travelling on his motorcycle near a fruit market on station road in Siwan on May 13.
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RJD strongman and four-time former MP from Siwan, Mohammad Shahbuddin, has been shifted to Bhagalpur jail from Siwan after the incident.
The Siwan police had, on May 25, arrested five persons from different localities of Siwan in connection with the killing of the journalist.
The police had also recovered the 7.65 bore country-made pistol used in the crime from one accused Rohit Kumar, who the police claimed has confessed to firing at the scribe.
During questioning of the five accused in the scribe case, it came to light that Laddan Mian, a history-sheeter who had come out of Siwan jail on April 27, had given contract for murder of the journalist, a senior police officer had said.
The accused told police that Laddan Mian had given Rs 15,000 to the main shooter Rohit Kumar for the murder of Ranjan. He had also promised to help another accused in settlement of a land dispute at his in-laws place, the officer had added.
With the murder of the journalist drawing countrywide criticism, the state government had on May 16 formally recommended Central Bureau of Investigation probe into the Ranjan murder case in deference to the wishes of the bereaved family.