Traders demand CBI probe into Dey murder

Traders and industrialists of Jamshedpur have demanded a CBI probe into the murder of Sreeleathers co-owner Ashish Dey in broad daylight at Sakchi area in the steel city Jammshedpur over a month ago.

In the first day of the winter session of the Jharkhand Assembly, the leader of the opposition and former chief minister Arjun Munda (BJP) referred the murder of Ashish Dey and paid tribute on behalf of his party.

Representatives of Singhbhum Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Small Industries Association and Adityapur Small Industries Association met chief minister Madhu Koda on December 13 in Jamshedpur when he came to inaugurate a toll bridge and a connecting bridge parallel to the Adityapur bridge.

The trader bodies requested the chief minister to hand over the murder probe to CBI as even a month after Jharkhand police failed to make any breakthrough into Dey's murder. Ironically, just 24 hours before the murder of Ashis Dey, the director general of Police (DGP) of Jharkhand, V D Ram, had claimed at a public function in the state capital Ranchi, "The law and order situation in Jharkhand is certainly not bad as projected in certain quarters and asserted Jharkhand was safe for industries".

The ground reality was exposed within 24 hours after DGP's observations with the murder of one of the owners of Sreeleathers Shoe Company, Ashis Dey, in Jamshedpur in second week of November this year, industry sources here pointed out.

After the constitution of Jharkhand following the bifurcation of Bihar on November 15, 2000, over a dozen businessmen had been murdered.

Criminals did not spare businessmen from abduction either - 13 high-profile personalities had been abducted for ransom since 2001, records prove.

Jharkhand police had registered 24 cases of abductions till September this year.

According to sources in the police department, over a dozen gangs allegedly based in Bihar had spread their networks in Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal and in parallel deputed organized gangs along with the local gangs to Jharkhand conduct crimes like collection of ransom and kidnappings.

Jharkhand police had not till date found even one hiding place. Notorious extortionist and contract killer, Lakhi Sharma, who recently fled along with three other gangsters from Chas sub-jail in Bokaro district, was yet to be traced by police.

A police report said that about 18,000 criminal cases were pending with the state police for investigation.

According to Palamau Chamber of Commerce and Industries president, Anand Shankar, traders in Palamu were passing sleepless nights as law and order machinery had not taken any steps to protect their lives and property from the clutch of criminals.

Coal belts areas in Dhanbad, Bokaro and Giridih had become locations for the extraction of the "rangdari" taxes by the criminal gangs. In Giridih two businessmen were abducted earlier this year for ransom. Liquor baron Kalyan alias Mitthu Sao was abducted from his office premises recently too.