With the Chhattisgarh Assembly elections scheduled in the year 2023, brutal murder of a Congress leader Sanju Tripathi in the middle of road in Chhattisgarh’s Bilaspur District has triggered a political stir in the state. The arrest of 15 accused involved in the murder have reportedly pointed to political rivalry behind the crime.

The accused have been arrested in a joint action conducted by the Chhattisgarh Police and the Delhi Police. While 11 accused were arrested by the Chhattisgarh Police, the remaining four accused have been arrested by the team of South-West District, Delhi Police.

The four accused arrested by the Delhi Police on Sunday have been identified as Bharat Tiwari, Ashish Tiwari, Ishtwar Prasad Tiwari and Rajender Kumar. If police sources are to be believed, Sanju Tripathi was killed, since, as a leader of Congress Party, he had developed a good stature and had a firm hold in the state politics.

He was believed to be a prominent candidate from the Congress Party in the upcoming assembly elections. However, the police are interrogating the arrested accused to ascertain the truth behind the murder.

According to police sources, some more accused involved in the case are at large and police are after them.

Advocate Deepak Tyagi said all the arrested accused were produced before the court in Delhi and have been handed over on the transit remand to the Chhattisgarh Police for three days. During their transit remand they will be produced before Chhattisgarh Court for further proceedings.

According to the police source, the deceased Sanju Tripathi was a well-known Congress leader in Chhattisgarh and was a property dealer. It was on December 14, that he was gunned down by over a dozen assailants in the area of Sakri Police Station of Bilaspur District, Chhattisgarh, while he was going to his home driving his car.

Tyagi said that after the incident, a total of 15 accused have been arrested till now, in a joint action taken by the Delhi Police and the Chhattisgarh Police. Police have also succeeded in recovering some of the case properties from the accused persons.