Slain BSP leader figures in land grab case

Slain Bahujan Samaj Party leader and billionaire Deepak Bhardwaj and his wife have been named, among others, in a case of land grabbing in the Capital on the basis of allegations of a New York-based founder member of Nargis Dutt Memorial Foundation.

The case was registered on Monday after 76-year-old Inderjit Singh Bindra complained to Delhi Police Commissioner Bhim Sain Bassi. He told police that he came to know about the fraud in July 2013, four months after Bhardwaj was shot dead at his farmhouse in south Delhi.

Bindra had purchased the land, measuring 33 bigha, at south Delhi’s Samalkha village in 1984-85 through a broker named Jaswant Singh Bhullar. “Now, Bhardwaj’s family and their associates are claiming to be the owners of the land,” Bindra claimed in his complaint.

He has also learnt that there are three civil suits filed against him which are pending since 1988. However, he was neither informed nor received any summon till date. In those cases, it is claimed that Bindra is the owner of the land and had entered into an agreement to sell the land. He alleged that counsels have been appearing in the Delhi High Court on his behalf without his knowledge and authorisation.

On the basis of the complaint, a case under sections 419 (cheating by personation), 420 (cheating and dishonestly inducing delivery of property), 467 (forgery of valuable security), 468 (forgery for purpose of cheating), 471 (using as genuine a forged document) and 120-B (criminal conspiracy) of the Indian Penal Code was filed with EOW police station.

Two of Bindra’s friends had also alleged land grabbing in the area by Bhardwaj, over which separate FIRs were filed with Economic Offences Wing of Delhi Police in August 2013.

Bhardwaj had contested the 15th Lok Sabha election from West Delhi constituency and was the richest candidatethen with declared assets amounting to over Rs 600 crore. He had given details of immovable assets worth Rs 551 crore. The 58-year-old was also related to Bollywood superstar Shahrukh Khan. Bhardwaj’s younger son, Nitesh is married to Khan’s sister-in-law.