How Papiya Ghosh Murder Case Convict Asif Khan Became Ashish Kumar to Con Cops

Meet Asif Khan, who hails from Odisha. He is a notorious criminal who was involved in the infamous murder of Papia Ghosh, a professor at Patna University and daughter of IAS officer Ujjal Ghosh. She was found murdered on December 3, 2006, along with her elderly housemaid, Malti Devi, apparently as a result of an attempted burglary.

Sources say that when Khan, along with co-accused Shankar Sao, Manohar Kumar, Ashish Kumar and Anik Uraun, was arrested, he told the police that his name was Ashish.

The murder of Papia Ghosh was a very high-profile case, and if the 2008 indictment reports do surface, then Ashish Kumar, not Asif Khan, is among the names of those convicted.

So Asif Khan was put in Bor Jail in Bihar as a convict in the name of Ashish Kumar Rai. He escaped from jail in 2018, went to Odisha, formed a new gang, and started robberies again.

Recently, there was a murder in a jewelry store in Titagarh, on May 24th. Asif is spotted by the police, but his dual identity causes confusion.

Sources say that when the Barrackpur Police contacted the Patna Police with his name and ID, they found that his name was Ashish Kumar Rai in the records in the neighboring state.

After a grueling investigation, the Barrackpur police track him down, get his address, go to his family in Odisha, and learn that Asif cheated the cops.

Speaking to News18, Barrackpore Police Commissioner Alok Rajoria said, “In the dacoity-cum-cum murder case at u/Titagarh PS gold store on 24th May, third Asif Khan, s/o Kiafyat Khan, of Dist Jagarsinghpur of Orissa (originally from Patna) on 3/6/23 from Patna. According to the investigation conducted so far, he has been arrested and convicted on the name of Ashish Kumar Rai in the Papia Ghosh murder case in 2006.”

Police officers say they have never seen such a case.