JOIN USAround seven people, including three from Haryana, were detained in the past two days for questioning to unravel the mystery behind the murder of BSP leader Deepak Bhardwaj on March 26 in the national capital.
Police teams have been sent to Haryana, western Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand to find the killers of Bhardwaj and raids are being carried out at several places. Deputy Commissioner of Police (South) Chhaya Sharma said: “It is no more a blind murder case. We have got clues and working in right direction.”
Meanwhile, Deputy Superintendent of Police of Jind in Haryana, Om Singh Balhara, told reporters: “On Tuesday night, Delhi Police with our help conducted raids in Jind and picked up three people and seized a white Santro car.” The police identified the detained as Anil, Virender and Dharamvir.
When asked about the detention of these people, including three from Haryana, Chhaya Sharma said they are questioning several of them but no one has been arrested so far.
The investigators are also trying to find the assailants’ getaway vehicle- a metallic grey Skoda Laura car. The police are examining all vehicles with a similar description.
The police team said that Bhardwaj’s murder was carried out by “contract killers” and the motive behind it might be a “family dispute or business rivalry”.
The investigators also said Bhardwaj had strained relations with his two sons – Hitesh and Nitesh – both married and then divorced. Both of his sons and his wife Ramesh Kumari did not stay with him.
They all stayed at Dwarka Sector 23 and ran Shiksha Bharati Public School at Sector 7. The police on Thursday grilled his wife Ramesh Kumari for hours to get some clue. “We are looking at all possible angles and no one has been given clean chit in this case,” said a senior police officer.
Bhardwaj has about 14 to 15 properties, including in Delhi and Haridwar. He was the richest BSP candidate for the 15th Lok Sabha elections in 2009 with property and cash worth Rs 615 crore. “Now, his total asset value is more than Rs 2,000 crore,” said the officer.
The police have not ruled out the role of an insider. The assailants had either done recce of the farmhouse or some insider gave description of 25-acre farmhouse. “The assailants knew Bhardwaj’s schedule,” an officer commented.
The police also said that the initial autopsy report revealed that Bhardwaj received three bullets, one in the chest and two in the back of his head.
On Tuesday morning, Bhardwaj was gunned down at his farmhouse – The Nitesh Kunj – located at south Delhi’s Rajokri area near the National Highway-8, which leads to Gurgaon from Delhi.
Three armed assailants entered his farmhouse on the pretext of booking the venue for a marriage ceremony, pumped three bullets into Bhardwaj and fled, brandishing pistols in front of security guards and staff from the farmhouse.