Seven held in Shakti Malik murder case in Bihar's Purnea

Seven people have been arrested for the murder of expelled Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) leader Shakti Malik,Bihar police said on Wednesday.

Earlier, FIR was registered against six people, including the sons of Lalu Prasad Yadav--Tejashwi and Tej Pratap Yadav-- in connection with the murder of former party secretary Shakti Malik who was killed on October 3 in Purnea district of the poll-bound state.

"We have recovered a diary, according to which, Maik gave loans to people. We were told that he used to make borrowers sign blank cheques and blank stamp papers to blackmail them later. Malik used to levy heavy interests, making it difficult for borrowers to repay. On October 3, he made an accused sit for 3-4 hours and pressurised him to accompany him to Patna amid election season. Frustrated, they decided to kill him. The accused said that they do not regret," Superintendent of Police (SP) Vishal Sharma said during a press conference.

When asked is there any evidence against the six people who were named in the FIR, SP said, "As I earlier said that we will take action against all those whose names come on the basis of evidence. No evidence has been found against all the six people who were named in the FIR. We have arrested all seven who murdered Malik."

"We will also investigate if police officials helped him for personal gains," he added.

Earlier police had said that Malik was expelled from the RJD on September 11.

( With inputs from ANI )