The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has arrested two accused in connection with the murder of Right to Information (RTI) activist Premkant Jha, who was allegedly shot dead in Virar in 2012. Officials said that the arrested duo have already been arrested in separate murder cases earlier and hatched the plan to kill Jha after securing bail in 2012.

Jha, a resident of the Phoolpada area in Virar, was shot dead by bike-borne assailants while on his way home in February 2012. The case was initially being investigated by the local police, but was transferred to the state Criminal Investigation Department (CID) after Jha’s family demanded an independent investigation. In August 2014, the Bombay High Court had come down heavily on the CID for dragging its feet and transferred the case to the CBI.

According to CBI sources, the accused have been identified as Baburao Ramanna and Umesh Sankhe, both local builders and developers operating out of Virar.

“Ramanna and Sankhe were angry with Jha as he had filed several RTI applications regarding the legality of a number of their construction projects. They were in jail when they learned about Jha’s activities. Ramanna was convicted for a murder, while Sankhe was in judicial custody in another murder case. After getting bail in 2012, they hatched the conspiracy and gave the contract to kill Jha to two contract killers. The duo was arrested on the basis of inputs provided by sources at ground level,” said a CBI source.

Interestingly, Ramanna and Sankhe’s names do not figure among the 18 suspects that the Virar police had listed during its investigation, said officials.

The CBI produced both the accused in the First Class Magistrate’s court in Vasai and they were both remanded to the CBI’s custody till January 18. “We are now interrogating the accused about several aspects of the case,” an officer said.

Jha was shot dead by bike-borne assailants while on his way home in February 2012