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

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

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

The Papiya Ghosh murder was a very high-profile case, and if you look at the 2008 conviction reports, the names of those convicted include Ashish Kumar, not Asif Khan.

Asif Khan was housed in Bihar’s Beur jail as a convict under the name of Ashish Kumar Ray. He escaped from prison in 2018, went to Odisha, formed a new gang and started stealing again.

There was recently a dacoity-cum-murder at a jewelry store in Titagarh on May 24. Asif was discovered by the police, but his dual identities created confusion.

Sources say that when the Barrackpore police contacted the Patna police with his name and identity, they found out that his name was Ashish Kumar Ray on the records of the neighboring state.

After a grueling investigation, the Barrackpore Police tracked him down, got his address, went to see his family in Odisha, and learned that Asif had scammed the police.

Speaking to News18, Barrackpore Police Commissioner Alok Rajoria said: “In a dacoity-cum-murder case at a u/Titagarh PS gold shop on May 24, the third party accused Asif Khan, s/ o Kiafyat Khan, from Dist Jagarsinghpur of Orissa ( originally from Patna) was arrested on 6/3/23 from Patna. According to the investigation conducted so far, he was arrested and convicted as Ashish Kumar Ray in the Papiya Ghosh murder case in 2006.”

The police say they had never seen such a case.