New Delhi: The Bihar Police have arrested the driver of municipal council executive officer Vimal Kumar, alleging he confessed to killing his employer in a fit of rage, even as the investigation widened following allegations from Kumar’s family of his “harassment” by a Lok Janshakti Party (Ram-Vilas) MLA.
“The driver, named Mithilesh Kumar, was taken into custody (Sunday) after he kept changing his statements about the sequence of events leading to Vimal Kumar’s death,” Magadh range Inspector General of Police Vikas Vaibhav told ThePrint.
Vimal Kumar was posted at the Dehri-Dalmianagar municipal council and was on his way back home in Patna Saturday via the national highway when he was allegedly killed.
“After carrying out the killing with a rod kept in the SUV for changing tyres, the driver first attempted to sell the story that Vimal Kumar was chased and killed by two men on motorbikes,” IGP Vaibhav said, adding that the driver also drove the SUV off the road into a pit to frame it as an accident.
Mithilesh was arrested by the Aurangabad police and a case was registered following a complaint from Vimal Kumar’s wife.
“Mithilesh revealed during interrogation that he had developed grudges and stresses over several issues with Vimal Kumar and killed him in a fit of rage. He got off the SUV and first attacked Vimal Kumar with the rod. When the surprised officer came out of the vehicle, Mithilesh attacked him again and killed him,” IGP Vaibhav said.
Aurangabad Superintendent of Police Upendra Nath Verma told ThePrint that teams from the forensic science laboratory have been able to corroborate the sequence of events revealed by the driver with the evidence on the ground. The incident took place on the national highway under the jurisdiction of Barun police station.
The case has also taken a political turn after Leader of the Opposition Tejashwi Yadav from the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) shared allegations from Vimal Kumar’s family that a number of calls were made to the officer by Dehri MLA Rajeev Ranjan Singh, also known as Sonu Singh in the region, over issues related to funds.
The family has raised suspicions of a wider conspiracy in the alleged murder.
“The MLA used to call him daily and harass him. He used to demand Rs 50 lakh from him and kept asking for a meeting with him,” Vimal Kumar’s wife Babita Kumari says in a video shared on X by the RJD.
“The Dehri MLA was asking for meetings daily and was asking Rs 50 lakh. He (Vimal Kumar) always used to say he can’t do anything wrong. The MLA used to ask for money and he (Vimal) went to meet him on 29 July,” she adds.
On Vimal Kumar’s death, Sonu Singh stated on his Facebook page: “The murder of the Dehri Municipal Council’s Executive Officer is personally deeply distressing to me, and the fact that my name was dragged into this case has deeply shaken my conscience.”
“The Inspector General of the Magadh range has spoken at length regarding the police investigation, and the perpetrator has been arrested. My sympathies lie with the bereaved family, and ensuring they receive justice is a top priority for me.”
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‘There has to be a conspiracy’
In a conversation with ThePrint, Babita Kumari said the family was not alleging that the MLA was personally involved in the killing but was suspicious of a larger conspiracy.
“There has to be a conspiracy for him to be killed so mercilessly in broad daylight,” she said.
In her police complaint that formed the basis of the FIR in the case, Babita Kumari submitted: “On 01-08-2026, my husband’s driver, Mithilesh Kumar, called me on my mobile and informed me that my husband Vimal Kumar, is no more. Initially, I thought he might have suffered minor injuries, but when I heard that he was not breathing, I strongly suspected that Mithilesh Kumar, the driver, had murdered my husband in the early hours of the morning.”
“Earlier also, he had refused to listen to my husband. My husband had talked about removing him from the job,” she added.
SP Verma said a team has been sent to the officer’s residence in Patna to seek a supplementary and detailed complaint from the family.
”Every possible angle will be investigated in a professional manner. We are not ruling out any angle or concluding the investigation as of now,” IGP Vaibhav said.
Attending final prayers for Vimal Kumar, Tejashwi mounted an attack on the Samrat Choudhary-led government in Bihar, of which the LJP (RV) is an ally, and urged the DGP to carry out an impartial probe into the matter.
(Edited by Nida Fatima Siddiqui)