BSP leader shot dead in Delhi farmhouse

Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) leader and prominent realtor Deepak Bhardwaj was gunned down by three assailants at his farmhouse on the Delhi-Gurgaon expressway in south Delhi’s Rajokri area on Tuesday morning.

The 62-year-old, who contested the 2009 Lok Sabha elections on a BSP ticket, was one of the richest candidates with assets worth over Rs 600 crore.

The armed men entered the farmhouse, “The Nitesh”, through gate number two in a silvery grey Skoda on the pretext of booking a marriage hall inside the premises.
They showed their identity cards following which they were allowed to enter.

The assailants went towards Bhardwaj’s Green Villa. Then two of them had a talk with the BSP leader which turned into an argument and in between one of them shot Bhardwaj thrice.

The assailants then fled in their car towards Gurgaon after brandishing pistols in front of the security guards and staff.

Bhardwaj, who is also into the hotel and education business, was rushed to the Army Hospital Research and Referral near Vasant Vihar where doctors declared him brought dead. Later, his body was sent to the All Indian Institute of Medical Sciences for a post-mortem.

The investigators said the assailants came to the farmhouse around 8:55 am and fled within 15 minutes. The investigators are still clueless about the motive and are questioning the politician’s family members and relatives.

“It seems he was killed over personal rivalry and the assailants might have been contract killers. It is too early to say anything. We are probing and gathering all information. We have got the CCTV footage,” said a senior police officer.

His two sons-Nitesh, 32 and Hitesh, 35- are living separately and are looking after the educational institutions.

While Hitesh lives in Dwarka with his wife, who is a cousin of actor Shah Rukh Khan’s wife Gauri Khan, Nitesh lives with his mother and family at the Vasant Vihar bungalow.
Police said Bhardwaj was also involved in property dispute cases in the national capital and other places.