New Delhi:
Three suspects detained for questioning by the Delhi Police in Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) leader Deepak Bhardwaj's murder case have been let off after the police found they were not involved in the crime, according to sources. The three men had been detained in Jind in Haryana and brought to Delhi.
Police sources say even the Santro car, recovered in Jind and believed to have been the second one used by the killers to escape, has turned out not to be the one they were looking for.
The white Santro was found 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.
Investigators have hinted that the identity of two of the three suspected killers is known and they are working on establishing the third suspect's identity.
Police teams are raiding places in Haryana, Uttarakhand and western Uttar Pradesh to hunt down the killers.
"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.
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.