Varanasi: Intensifying the drive to nab the accused in the ambush of a 22-year-old groom during his ‘baraat’ procession in Jaunpur, police have arrested eight people for sheltering them and facilitating their escape.On the complaint of victim Azad Bind’s family, police booked Pradeep Bind of Chiksawa Bardah and aides Ravi Yadav and Bhole Rajbhar, Jaunpur SP Kunwar Anupam Singh said. A Rs 25,000 reward was declared on each of them.Raids traced them to villages in Khetasarai and Saraikhwaja. But before police could reach the hideouts, shelter providers helped them escape. The SP said that, taking note of it, eight people, including Ramjeet Bind, Aditya Gautam, Kamlesh Yadav, Gulshan Rajbhar, Sahil Rajbhar, Sachin Rajbhar, Shole Rajbhar, and Brijmohan Bind, were arrested.Azad’s wedding procession left Badaur village for Bibpur Jamdaha on Friday evening. As it reached Badshahi Bazar, the midway point, three masked men on a motorcycle overtook the groom’s vehicle and blocked it. Before Azad or others could grasp what was happening, the men fired indiscriminately at him and sped off towards Jaunpur. Azad was rushed to a nearby hospital, but doctors referred him to the district hospital as his condition turned critical. He later died during treatment, police said.Initial investigation found that the prime accused, Pradeep Bind, has a long criminal history and named in other murder cases. He had a rivalry with the victim for local dominance. After learning that Azad was set to marry a girl from his extended family, Pradeep had allegedly threatened to kill him on the wedding day.BoxBizman lynching: 5 held for sheltering accusedFive persons have been arrested on charges of sheltering the accused in the businessman lynching case at Ghamahapur in Varanasi.DCP (Gomati zone) Neetu Kadian said teams probing the April 26 night lynching of Manish Singh arrested four accused: Manoj Prajapati, Harishchandra Rajbhar, Yogendra Prajapati and Abhishek alias Buddhu. Five others — Ashish Rajbhar, Manish Rajbhar, Deepak Rajbhar, Govind Rajbhar and Nagendra Rajbhar — are absconding despite Rs 25,000 rewards on each.Police raided the houses of Kishan Kumar, Ashish Kumar in Jaunpur, Ajay Kumar and Shiv Mohan Rajbhar of Samogra in Phulpur, and Pradeep Bhardwaj of Cholapur. They allegedly misled police, obstructed raids, and helped the accused flee. All five were arrested for sheltering the murder accused and tampering with evidence.The 36-year-old businessman was lynched by a mob after his car hit a woman washing utensils along the road in the Phulpur area of Varanasi. The incident occurred when Singh was returning home from his factory. The car went out of control while passing through the Ghamhapur village road and hit the woman. She suffered injuries. Manish came out of his car to check on her.Soon, local villagers and the woman’s family members surrounded Manish and started assaulting him with sticks and bricks. Manish suffered critical injuries and was left to die, said police. On getting information, Manish’s family members rushed to the spot and took him to BHU trauma centre where he was declared dead.
