‘Mahant planned Bharadwaj’s murder for Rs 2 cr, money was to buy ashram’
After a two-week long investigation, Delhi police has managed to establish the prime motive that led Mahant Pratibhanand, one of the prime accused in the 26 March murder of BSP leader Deepak Bharadwaj, to plan the politician’s killing.
According to a source in the police, 'Mahant, against whom a look-out notice has been issued, wanted to purchase an ashram for himself, for which he needed Rs. 1.5 crore. One day Mahant allegedly received a contract to kill Bharadwaj and was promised Rs 2 crore for the job.' 'The name of the main conspirator, the one who gave the contract for Bharadwaj's murder to Mahant is yet to be unearthed,' said Chhaya Sharma, deputy commissioner of police (south). According to a senior official, 'The total commission money for Bharadwaj's murder contract has now been pegged at Rs. Six crore, making it one of the most expensive contract killings in the capital'.
Police believes that Mahant didn't have any personal enmity with Bharadwaj, but he remains a key-element of the multi-layered conspiracy hatched to kill Bharadwaj, by someone believed to be close to the politician-businessman. 'Nitesh, Bharadwaj's elder son, who was involved in a property dispute with him, is again being questioned in the case, as he remains one of the prime suspects in the case,' a source said.
It has been alleged that Mahant nurtured ambitions to become a powerful spiritual leader, but he had been thrown out of several ashrams in the past, including the Hindu Mahasabha, where he stayed for approximately one-and-a-half months, earlier this year. This intensified his desire to have his own Ashram. He has reportedly been looking for options during the past 18 months, in Haridwar, Karnal, Solan and Varanasi and during the Kumbh Mela in Allahabad, but was refused sole ownership of any ashram. According to an official source, initially there was no plan to kill Bharadwaj in his farmhouse, since it was under CCTV surveillance and would make it easy for the police to nab the killers. But two attempts made before 26 March to kill the politician elsewhere, failed.
Meanwhile on Monday, cops arrested an advocate identified as Baljeet from south-west's Najafgarh area. ' Baljeet and Mahant are the two conspirators who planned the murder, but they were acting on someone else's directions. That mastermind is yet to be identified,' the source added.
According to a source in the police, 'Mahant, against whom a look-out notice has been issued, wanted to purchase an ashram for himself, for which he needed Rs. 1.5 crore. One day Mahant allegedly received a contract to kill Bharadwaj and was promised Rs 2 crore for the job.' 'The name of the main conspirator, the one who gave the contract for Bharadwaj's murder to Mahant is yet to be unearthed,' said Chhaya Sharma, deputy commissioner of police (south). According to a senior official, 'The total commission money for Bharadwaj's murder contract has now been pegged at Rs. Six crore, making it one of the most expensive contract killings in the capital'.
Police believes that Mahant didn't have any personal enmity with Bharadwaj, but he remains a key-element of the multi-layered conspiracy hatched to kill Bharadwaj, by someone believed to be close to the politician-businessman. 'Nitesh, Bharadwaj's elder son, who was involved in a property dispute with him, is again being questioned in the case, as he remains one of the prime suspects in the case,' a source said.
It has been alleged that Mahant nurtured ambitions to become a powerful spiritual leader, but he had been thrown out of several ashrams in the past, including the Hindu Mahasabha, where he stayed for approximately one-and-a-half months, earlier this year. This intensified his desire to have his own Ashram. He has reportedly been looking for options during the past 18 months, in Haridwar, Karnal, Solan and Varanasi and during the Kumbh Mela in Allahabad, but was refused sole ownership of any ashram. According to an official source, initially there was no plan to kill Bharadwaj in his farmhouse, since it was under CCTV surveillance and would make it easy for the police to nab the killers. But two attempts made before 26 March to kill the politician elsewhere, failed.
Meanwhile on Monday, cops arrested an advocate identified as Baljeet from south-west's Najafgarh area. ' Baljeet and Mahant are the two conspirators who planned the murder, but they were acting on someone else's directions. That mastermind is yet to be identified,' the source added.