New Delhi:
The Delhi Police have conducted searches overnight in neighbouring Haryana and in Hardwar for a self-styled godman or "swami" who, they have learnt, might have plotted the assassination of BSP leader and real estate tycoon Deepak Bhardwaj.
Police sources said the interrogation of two alleged gunmen arrested in the case has led them to investigate the role of the godman, identified by the accused as a Pratima Nand from Bahadurgarh in Haryana. They have allegedly told their interrogators that the godman offered them Rs two crore to murder Mr Bharadwaj.
The accused have allegedly told the cops that the godman planned the murder about two or three months ago, and also that they were asked by him to dispose of the murder weapons in Rohtak, Haryana. The police sources, however, said the motive is as yet unclear. The police are trying to ascertain if the man identified by the accused as Pratima Nand had a dispute with Mr Bharadwaj over a land deal.
They are also trying to ascertain whether the godman acted alone or in collusion with others. Mr Bhardwaj's estranged wife and two sons and others in his family have been questioned in the case. The cops say Mr Bhardwaj might have been killed over property, or money, or both. They said yesterday that the murder was ordered by a "complex web of conspirators."
The police are moving cautiously in the case as much of this information is yet to be independently confirmed by them and there are reportedly many discrepancies in the versions of the alleged killers.
Two of the three men arrested in the case so far were caught on camera leaving the tycoon's 26-acre farmhouse in south Delhi minutes after he was shot dead on the morning of March 26.
In the 2009 national elections, Mr Bhardwaj was the richest candidate with assets worth Rs. 600 crores. He lost the elections but shot to prominence due to the assets he declared on the affidavit.