Moneybags BSP leader shot in Delhi farmhouse

Attackers were known to Bhardwaj as they were allowed inside farmhouse,says police.

Deepak Bhardwaj,a local BSP leader and one of the richest candidates in the 2009 Lok Sabha elections,was shot dead by two unidentified assailants at his south Delhi farmhouse after a brief altercation on Tuesday morning. Police were investigating the possibility of both a family feud and business rivalry.

Around 8.55 am,police said,three men arrived at Bhardwajs Nitesh Kunj farmhouse in Rajokri in a Skoda Octavia with tinted windows and a fake registration number,DL 3C A 7062. The two who would ultimately shoot at Bhardwaj one wearing a blue T-shirt and grey pants,the other in a grey T-shirt and green pants were in the back seat.

They showed IDs to two lathi-wielding private security guards Vinod Sharma and Braj Kishore Singh at the farmhouses gate number 2,and told them they had come to meet Bhardwaj about booking the venue for a wedding. The car was let through,and it went 200 m to the residential building in the compound.

Bhadwaj,sources said,was talking a walk outside. The car rolled up to the building just as he arrived in front,made a U-turn and stopped facing the gate,evidently ready to make a quick getaway. The men in the back seat got off and began a conversation with Bhardwaj.

At Rs 604 cr,BSP man is the richest this polls

The driver remained inside.

The conversation quickly turned into an argument,the sources said. One of the men shot Bhardwaj point blank in the chest. Bhardwaj staggered and tried to get away,but the assailants shot him again,this time in the temple. As Bhardwaj collapsed,the driver took off in the car,with the assailants running behind.

CCTV footage seized from the gate shows the car reached the gate at 9:14:44 am. Twelve seconds later,the alleged killers are seen running up,brandishing their weapons at members of Bhardwajs staff,who are seen emerging from the guards room and coming through a wicket gate.

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The assailants are seen flinging open the gates,following which they get into the car which speeds away. It is believed they fled towards Gurgaon,some two and a half kilometres away. Sources said the registration number of the car was traced to a woman in Trilokpuri.

Police said Bhardwaj had been embroiled in a family dispute for some time. His wife Ramesh and younger son Nitesh lived separately in Dwarkas Sector 22,running the familys Shiksha Bharti Public School. The elder son,Hitesh,looks after the familys real estate business,police said. Two days ago,Nitesh had filed a complaint at the Vasant Kunj South police station against Bhardwaj following an argument over Nitesh Kunj,the property where the shooting happened.

Bhardwajs personal security officer was away in Kapashera with his family at the time of the attack. A second PSO had quit his post six months ago.

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