New Delhi:
The Delhi police have detained three more suspects for the murder of Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) leader Deepak Bhardwaj and found the second car, a Santro, used by the killers to escape.
The white Santro car was found in Jind, Haryana a day after the Delhi police recovered the grey Skoda in which Mr Bhardwaj's killers had come to his farmhouse on Tuesday and shot him.
Police teams are raiding places in Haryana, Uttarakhand and western Uttar Pradesh to hunt down the killers. Investigators have hinted that their identity is known to them.
"No arrests have been made. We are investigating," Deputy Commissioner of Police (South) Chhaya Sharma said today.
Police sources said property disputes or business rivalry could have led to Mr Bhardwaj's murder. Investigators have questioned Mr Bhardwaj's family, from whom he was estranged of late, and guards at his sprawling farmhouse on the Delhi-Gurgaon border. Some suspected contract killers were detained yesterday.
Three men drove into Mr Bhardwaj's farmhouse on Tuesday morning and shot him twice from close range after an argument. CCTV footage from the farmhouse, released by the police, shows the suspected attackers fleeing in the Skoda car.
Mr Bhardwaj was a real estate tycoon and a super-rich politician. While contesting the 2009 Lok Sabha elections from West Delhi, which he lost, he had declared assets of over Rs. 600 crore, making him the richest candidate in the polls.
Mr Bhardwaj's post-mortem was conducted yesterday. Three bullets were found in his body - two in the chest and one in the skull.