The murder of controversial Delhi ACP Rajbir Singh late last night, allegedly by his friend Vijay Bhardwaj, a Gurgaon property dealer, has rocked the Delhi Police establishment with preliminary investigations suggesting that the killing of the “encounter specialist” was pre-meditated.

Police officials said Bhardwaj told them that the .32 revolver with which he allegedly shot Singh belonged to the latter and he had borrowed it from him three days ago. This, officials said, was a strong enough reason to suspect that the murder had been planned. The weapon’s ownership is being looked into and Bhardwaj has been remanded in police custody for two days.

Officials said that the usually alert Singh — he was behind 42 encounter deaths — was sitting across the table in Bhardwaj’s cramped office and appeared to have been caught off guard when the first shot was fired.

The post-mortem report suggests that Singh was shot in the side of his head. Gurgaon officials said that the first shot appeared to have missed Singh who got up instantly. This was when Bhardwaj allegedly fired two more rounds. Hit in the head, Singh fell back and died almost immediately, the officials said.

Delhi Police sources said that when Singh’s PSO (personal security officer) Neelu Ram called on his cellphone around 10.30 pm to know if “Sahabji” (Singh) was free, Bhardwaj apparently told him that Singh was busy on the other phone and would speak to him later.

Bhardwaj later called TV reporters before turning himself in. Sources said he made the call to the media because he was afraid he would be killed by police.

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