Motive behind BSP leader's murder remains a mystery

Even as the police are yet to establish the motive behind the murder of BSP leader Deepak Bhardwaj, three of the five accused arrested in the capital were produced before a city court on Tuesday and the judge remanded them in police custody for ten days.

The Delhi Police also moved an application for an identification parade of three accused -- Purushottam Rana, Sunil Mann and Amit -- before the court, which the accused declined.

Asked why they did not wish to be paraded, the accused said that the police had taken their photographs at the time of arrest.  The investigators said that Rana, one of the accused killers, was given the contract to murder the BSP leader. Rana told police that a man named ‘Swamiji’ is the main conspirator in the case. He had allegedly given money to Purushottam to kill Bhardwaj.

Police said, another suspect, Raju, had also come up in the case. Investigators said that the second alleged killer, Sunil Mann, had procured the guns from Raju. Purushottam claimed to have thrown the murder weapons in a canal, according to the police.

On Monday, the investigators arrested Purushottam, Sunil, Amit (who was driving the Skoda car which was used as a getaway vehicle by the killers), the car owner Rakesh, and the man who introduced Purushottam to the contract killer Rana. Investigators have recovered a SIM card that the killers had used. They had procured the SIM card from Samaypur Badli three days before the murder. The police said that they have to recover more SIM cards from them.

The police also said that they have to take the three accused to Mathura, Haridwar, Jhajjar and some areas in Haryana to collect evidence and to track down the main accused. The police added that they plan raids at these locations to trace the weapons used to kill Bhardwaj. They also propose to probe the escape trail of the accused after they murdered Bhardwaj in his farmhouse on March 26. The investigators said that around ten people were involved in the whole conspiracy and five have been arrested so far. But the police are yet to trace the vital links in the case.

Bhardwaj was shot dead at his farmhouse located at south Delhi’s Rajokri area near National Highway 8, which leads to Gurgaon from Delhi.