'My husband weighs 102 kg, has a steel rod in his leg, how can he flee like the shooter in the CCTV footage?'
A day after the Bihar police secured a five day remand for Umesh Yadav, whom the police identified as the shooter in the sensational Gopal Khemka murder, his wife Shweta Devi has questioned the police claim that it had cracked the case.
"My husband Umesh Yadav is innocent and has nothing to do with the Khemka murder," says Shweta Devi.
"He has been falsely framed in the case and I demand a high level enquiry because a false story has been created to frame my husband," Shweta Devi adds.
Shweta Devi insists her husband was sleeping in the room with her on the night Khemka was killed (July 4, 11.30 pm).
The Patna police last week claimed to have cracked the case afrer it arrested Umesh Yadav, who it alleged shot Khemka near his building gate in the heart of Bihar's capital city, and arrested businessman Ashok Sao, who the police claimed had paid for the killing.
Bihar Director General of Police Vinay Kumar, Additional DGP (headquarters) Kundan Krishnan, Inspector General of Police Jitendar Rana and Senior Superintendent of Police Kartikay Sharma told a media conference three days ago how the police had cracked the case and arrested the main accused in the case.
The police claimed that Umesh Yadav was the shooter seen in the CCTV footage and that Ashok Sao had paid him Rs 400,000 for the murder. This, the police claimed, Sao had confessed to the police during initial interrogation.
"My husband weighs 102 kg, has a steel rod in his leg, how can he flee like the shooter in the CCTV footage?" asks Shweta Devi, the mother of a school going daughter and son.
"The police are deliberately making Umesh Khemka's murderer. How can he kill someone like a professional shooter?" she asks.
"If anyone compares CCTV footage of the shooter with my husband's physical appearance it will reveal the reality of the cooked up case against him," she adds.
"Umesh can't run due to his weight and damaged leg. He gets breathless when he walks up stairs. But look at the CCTV footage where the shooter appears lanky and is running fast."
"When the police arrived at our house they threatened us and warned that something very bad would happen to my husband, he will be killed in a police encounter and asked me to accept that it was me who opened the gate when he returned after he committed the crime," Shweta Devi claims.
When the police entered her home and started a search, Shweta Devi claims, she heard some policemen say that the shooter's name was Umesh Kumar alias Vijay Sahni.
She also refuted the police's account that Umesh Yadav knew Ashok Sao for 18 months after they first met at a wedding in Biharsharif. "My husband did not know Ashok. It is lies that Umesh was in touch with him," she says.
The police, she alleges, threatened to demolish her home if she did not reveal where the gun used in the crime was hidden and where the money paid to her husband for killing Khemka was.
Shweta Devi claims the police forcibly seized money in the house kept for her operation. "I have been ailing for months and under treatment. The doctor recommended an operation and it was scheduled on July 9. I have shown the doctor's prescription to the police and repeatedly told them that the money was for that purpose when the police seized it."
Shweta Devi alleges that the police planted a story in the local media that Umesh was facing a financial crunch and agreed to kill Khemka for money. "We are not facing any financial crunch," she insists. "It is a false police story that Umesh could not pay the childrens' school fees."
According to her, Umesh's cable business is doing well and the couple also gets some amount of money through rent.
The police claimed that Umesh Yadav was given Rs 50,000 as an advance to hire a shooter and was promised Rs 350,000 if the shooter killed the target.
Umesh allegedly approached local shooter Vikas alias Raja who demanded Rs 400,000 for the murderous assignment.
According to the police investigation, Umesh, who had been reportedly facing a financial crunch for some time, then decided to execute the crime himself and informed Sao, who gave his go ahead, knowing fully that Umesh had no criminal record.
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