Police investigating Tuesday’s jewellery shop heist in Nadia’s Ranaghat said on Thursday that one of the five arrested robbers is a Bihar-based professional shooter and involved in the murder of businessman Rajesh Jha at Shaktigarh on April 1 this year.

Jha joined the BJP ahead of 2021 Assembly polls but his party distanced itself from him after the election.

The information emerged during interrogation of the arrested dacoits on Wednesday night.

“During interrogation, one of the arrested five, Kundan Kumar Yadav, told us he was among the shooters who fired at Rajesh Jha in Shaktigarh. We have come to know he is a professional shooter and was hiding in Bihar after the murder. He was also the mastermind of the jewellery shop robbery in Ranaghat and took a house on rent in Kalyani before committing the crime,” an officer of Ranaghat police station said.

Kundan apart, others arrested are Raju Kumar Paswan, Rikki Paswan, Manikant Kumar Yadav and Chottu Kumar Paswan. Manikant and Chottu sustained bullet injuries during the exchange of fire between the gang and cops.

Rajesh Jha a.k.a Raju was a businessman with alleged links in coal smuggling. He was shot dead by three assailants while seated in an SUV at Shaktigarh on April 1 evening. Jha was on his way to Calcutta with Bratin Mukherjee, his aide, and Abdul Latif, a prime accused in the cattle smuggling case being probed by the CBI.

A special investigating team (SIT) headed by the superintendent of East Burdwan police was formed to probe the Jha murder. The case was handed over to the CBI following a Calcutta High Court order in June.

The SIT earlier arrested one Abhijit Mondal, a driver, from Durgapur 19 days after Jha’s murder. Police found the involvement of a Bihar-based gang in the murder. A police team had gone to different locations in Bihar but did not meet with success.

“We will interrogate Kundan and expect to get the names of persons who had masterminded the murder and hired them to kill Jha,” said a police officer in East Burdwan.

Speaking to The Telegraph, Ranaghat police district SP K. Kannan said: “A team of East Burdwan police visited Ranaghat on Wednesday to check the identity of five criminals we arrested in connection with Tuesday’s jewellery shop robbery. Among the five, they have in particular identified Kundan Singh Yadav, in connection with Raju Jha’s murder. They interrogated him preliminary and got some links to the murder.”

A source said Kundan’s presence in Jha’s murder had been confirmed by CCTV footage.

The source added that East Burdwan police would petition in court for Kundan’s custody for further interrogation.

Sources said the CBI would also interrogate Kundan as the Jha murder case, with its link with alleged coal smuggling, is now being probed by the central agency.

After the five arrests on Tuesday itself, no other person could be held by Ranaghat police in connection with Tuesday’s robbery at Senco Gold and Diamonds store.

The three remaining gang members, who are suspected to have fled with the booty of around Rs 9 crore, remained elusive, increasing the embarrassment of the police.

Sources said that the police found some religious magazines from Kundan dedicated to disseminating mantra, tantra and yantra to “eliminate hardship caused by modern lifestyles”, as the arrested criminal told the sleuths during his interrogation.

A Senco Gold and Diamonds store was also broken into by an armed gang in Purulia town on Tuesday. In both places, the modus operandi was the same as the gang members entered the store posing as customers.