Suspected shooters and two others arrested in Bhardwaj murder case

In a breakthrough, police today arrested four persons including two suspected shooters in connection with last week's murder of local BSP leader Deepak Bhardwaj but investigators are yet to nab those who hired them.

Police said they were investigating the role of his family, who are living separately, as well as business rivals for the murder of 62-year-old Bhardwaj in his farmhouse in south Delhi's Rajokri on March 26.

The arrest of Purushottam Rana and Sunil Mann came amid high drama as they drove to Patiala Court to surrender. Rana was apprehended just before he was to enter the premises.

Mann managed to evade the waiting police and entered a court room but the judge refused to hear the matter and handed him over to the police.

Amit, who is suspected to have driven the car used by the shooters to flee from Bhardwaj's farmhouse, and the owner of the car Rakesh were also arrested separately.

"We have arrested four persons," Chhaya Sharma, Deputy Commissioner of Police (South), told reporters.

Asked about the motive of the murder, she said they will need some more time to ascertain that.

Police sources said they had a tip off about the possible surrender of the shooters but they could manage to catch Rana only.

At Patiala House court complex, Mann managed to enter Metropolitan Magistrate Prashant Sharma's court to surrender but the judge refused to hear the matter and directed the Delhi Police officials, who were present there, to take the accused out of the court room.

The magistrate was angry with the conduct of the persons who were accompanying Mann and said he would not hear the matter today.

"Is this the way you behave in court room. Don't you know that the accused is charged in a murder case under section 302 IPC. I will not take up the matter today. Take the accused out of the court room," the magistrate said.

As the police officials took the accused outside the court room, a ruckus was created by the persons who were accompanying Mann and the police had to struggle to put him inside their vehicle.

The police had issued lookout circulars against the two suspected shooters-- Rana and Mann.

Bhardwaj was the richest candidate in the last Lok Sabha elections with declared assets of over Rs.600 crore. A real estate tycoon, he also ran educational institutions.

Police have questioned Bhardwaj's wife Ramesh Kumari and sons and his staff in the past few days, with investigators saying that property or money was the reason for the murder.

Investigators are also looking into the role of an insider who might have tipped off the killers about the movement of Bhardwaj and the topography of the farmhouse.

Around 40 employees were inside the around 25 acre farmhouse at the time of the incident. However, the two Personal Security Officers of Bhardwaj were not with him or inside the farmhouse at the time of the incident.