Fearing deadly encounter, Vashisht kept pistol: Driver

Days before 45-year-old Manoj Vashisht was killed in an alleged encounter at a restaurant in Central Delhi’s Rajendra Nagar, he went to his native village in Baghpat to bring back his licensed pistol (0.32 bore), Vashisht’s driver told Millennium Post on Friday.  

His driver — Anu Yadav (28), a native of Agra, who was working for Vashisht for the past five years, has not been contacted by the Special Investigation Team (SIT) yet that is presently probing Vashisht’s alleged encounter. 

On the day of the incident, Yadav was with him from early morning and noticed that Vashisht was very stressed after he returned from a meeting at UP Bhawan in Delhi.  

He left for Sagar Ratna restaurant in Central Delhi after the meeting at the UP Bhawan where he was also accompanied by his brother Anil. 

“Sahab (<g data-gr-id="31">Vashisht</g>) had to go to Baghpat on the same day with his brother for a political <g data-gr-id="33">meeting</g> but suddenly he cancelled the plan and asked me to take him to the restaurant. On the way, he was constantly on <g data-gr-id="32">phone</g> and in a hurry he left one of his mobile phones in the car,” Yadav said.

Vashisht was carrying his pistol on the day of the incident. He bought the licensed pistol in 2009 but had not renewed the license after it lapsed. Speaking to Millennium Post, Yadav said: “Two weeks before the shoot-out, Vashisht went to <g data-gr-id="36">Pabla</g> Begumabad, his village in Baghpat, to attend a religious gathering organised at the Pura Mahadev temple. On May 6, after the city court said he is not wanted by the Special Cell in any case, he had planned to visit Baghpat again. On May 9, he went to his village, <g data-gr-id="34">specially</g> to bring back his pistol.”  

“The pistol was useless for him and that is why he kept it at his residence in Baghpat. But after April 29 episode when Special Cell officers chased him at Expressway near Greater Noida, he feared that he would be killed in an encounter. Since then, he started keeping the pistol and carried it all most at all public places, especially restaurants where he often went for meetings.”