LUCKNOW: Investigations into the ‘murder’ of Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha (BJYM) leader Pratyush Mani Tripathi have revealed that he had staged the attack on himself with the aim of implicating his rivals Salman, Adnan, Shibu, Dhruv Verma and Rohit Singh in attempt to murder case and using the incident to seek police security cover for himself.The stunning facts surfaced as police arrested Pratyush’s five associates — Anil Rana, Ashish Awasthi, Mahendra Gupta, Prabhat Kumar and Amit Awasthi who confessed their involvement in the staged attack. SSP Lucknow Kalanidhi Naithani said that investigators became suspicious when the location of none of those named by Pratyush’s wife Pratima in her husband’s murder was found in Lucknow on the day of crime.“Location of Salman and Adnan was found in Gurugram, while Shibu, Dhruv Verma, Rohit Singh were also not in Lucknow,” said SSP. During investigation, location of five mobile numbers was found same as that of Pratyush and were in touch. The numbers were found to be of Anil Rana, Ashish Awasthi, Mahendra Gupta, Prabhat Kumar and Amit Awasthi who were questioned but didn’t reveal anything. “We got the post-mortem report analysed by an expert who said that the nature of injuries point that the victim didn’t offer any resistance at all while being attacked. In the meantime, we got clear CCTV footage in which the jackets worn by miscreants and their bike numbers could be seen clearly. When we rounded up the five, Rana spilled the beans,” said SSP.“Rana disclosed that Pratyush and Mahendra went to Gadbadjhala market in Aminabad where from he purchased a knife for Rs 250. Pratyush also bought gloves from a medical store so that there are no fingerprints on the knife,” he added..“Rana was told to attack Pratyush. When Rana slashed Pratyush’s left hand he told him to attack in such a way that it looked like a murderous assault. In the second attack, the point of knife punctured Tripathi’s lungs and he began to bleed. The five friends got scared and fled leaving Pratyush at the spot,” said Naithani.Pratyush of Model House, Kaiserbagh was found lying in Mahanagar with stab wounds on December 3 and he later died at KGMU Trauma Centre. Police also recovered the jacket and the gloves. Rana said that they threw the knife in Kukrail drain while fleeing.

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