New Delhi, April 2: With both the suspected killers and the getaway Skoda car driver and owner in custody, Delhi Police is now hunting for the mastermind of the daylight murder of builder-turned-politician Deepak Bhardwaj.
Reports say, that the builder, who was staying separately from his wife Ramesh Kumari and two sons Hitesh and Nitesh, had an affair with a woman, whom he used to give hefty cuts from money earned from farmhouse parties. This was being objected to by his family members.
On the day of the murder (March 26), on Holi eve, Purushottam Rana alias Monu, who fled from Nitesh Kunj after killing 62-year-old Bhardwaj, landed at the residence of his aunt (mausi) in Nankhedi in Najafgarh, and told her to tell her son Pradeep (his friend) that he has played Holi (in other words, committed murder).
The breakthrough came to investigators when they found the Skoda car in Jind, Haryana, and picked up the real owner Rakesh. The car owner led them to Amit, the driver, who drove away the Skoda car soon after the crime.
On Friday early morning, police swooped on Monu's brother-in-law (jeeja) and picked him up. Monu's sister had married him only a month and half back.
With this, Monu became desperate, and he was advised by relatives and a lawyer to surrender at Patiala House court. Sonu, the co-killer, also decided to do the same, but before the surrender formalities could be completed, police picked up both of them.
Purushottam Rana was apprehended from outside Patiala House court complex this morning but his accomplice Sunil Mann managed to evade the waiting police and entered a court room but the judge refused to hear the matter and handed him over to the police.
At Patiala House court complex, Mann managed to enter Metropolitan Magistrate Prashant Sharma's court to surrender but the judge refused to hear the matter and directed the Delhi Police Crime Branch officials, who were present there, to take the accused out of the court room.
The magistrate was angry with the conduct of the persons who were accompanying Mann and said he would not hear the matter today.
"Is this the way you behave in court room. Don't you know that the accused is charged in a murder case under section 302 IPC. I will not take up the matter today. Take the accused out of the court room," the magistrate said.
As the police officials took the accused outside the court room, a ruckus was created by the persons who were accompanying Mann and the police had to struggle to put him
inside their vehicle.
DCP South Chhaya Sharma said, police is now investigating the motive behind the daylight murder.
Police have questioned Bhardwaj's wife Ramesh Kumari and sons and his staff in the past few days, with investigators saying that property or money was the reason for the murder.
Investigators are also looking into the role of an insider who might have tipped off the killers about the movement of Bhardwaj and the topography of the farmhouse.
Around 40 employees were inside the around 25 acre farmhouse at the time of the incident. However, the two Personal Security Officers of Bhardwaj were not with him or inside the farmhouse at the time of the incident.
Amit, the car driver, has told police that, a "supari"(money in lieu of killing) was issued to kill Bhardwaj. He revealed the name of the person to police, but the investigators are waiting for clinch evidence to catch the person who ordered Bhardwaj's murder.
"An investigation is on. It is too early to say what was the motive for the murder. We cannot reveal who was the main conspirator behind the incident," Sharma said.
She added that police are yet to ascertain the involvement of Bhradwaj's family or any relative in the murder.
Bhardwaj, a realtor and the richest candidate in the 2009 Lok Sabha election with declared assets of over Rs.600 crore, was shot dead March 26 around 9 a.m. at his 35-acre farmhouse in Rajokri in south Delhi.
The two suspected killers, along with an accomplice, fled in a Skoda car with a fake registration number.
The killers had entered the farmhouse on the pretext of meeting Bhardwaj. He was shot in the head and chest.
