Rising political stature, opposing extortion and protecting the witnesses in a murder case in which a dreaded gangster was the prime accused resulted in the killing of the BJP leader Vijay Pandit at Dadri in Greater Noida a few days back.

Police on Wednesday claimed to have cracked the murder mystery and arrested four persons said to be members of the Anil Dujana and Sunder Bhati gang, according to the senior police officials. Three other accused were yet to be traced.

Two of those arrested were among the main accused while the other two were accessories. The cops recovered 30 mm pistols from their possession, sources here said. The two main accused  were identified as Avaneesh alias Anni and Deepak.

Anni, a resident of Uttar Pradesh’s Bulandshahar district, had a long criminal history. “He is the shooter of Sunder Bhati gang,” the officials said. “These are young criminals ready to kill anyone just for money...they keep changing their affiliations to confuse the police,” remarked an official.

The officials said the plan to kill Pandit had been hatched way back in 2012 when the latter started patronising the witnesses in a case of murder in which a member of Anil Dujana gang was the prime suspect. 

“There were efforts to settle the matter outside the court but owing to the Pandit’s alleged encouragement, the victim’s family refused to make any compromise and continued to pursue the matter in the court much to the annoyance of the gangsters,” the officials said.

They said that Pandit’s rising stature in politics was another reason behind the killing. Pandit’s wife Geeta had won the election for the post of chairperson of Dadri Nagar Palika Parishad.