Two years on, police nabs corporator's killer

On Saturday, the Navghar police in Lucknow arrested 35 year-old Rajesh Singh who was the key accused in the murder of senior Congress leader, Praful Patil. Singh was absconding for the past two years.

On May 8, 2010, Patil, a corporator of the Mira Bhayander Municipal Corporation (MBMC) stepped out for his routine jog. Two persons shot him in the back and chest, stabbed him repeatedly, and fled the scene. Patil was a builder and petrol pump owner as well as a trustee of the Abhinav Shetkari Shikshan Mandal. Police sources felt that a property dispute was the motivation behind the murder.

In 2010, the police arrested Ajay Pandey, Rasool Shaik, Vishal Mhatre and the then MBMC mayor, Tulsidas Mhatre under MCOCA but later released him on bail. Singh, however, was absconding. A source in the police, on the condition of anonymity, said, "Singh was hiding in Nepal and Assam. We arrested him from a Lucknow hotel after a tip-off."u00a0