Five held in ex-Delhi MLA murder case

Five people have been arrested in connection with the murder of former Delhi legislator Bharat Singh, police said on Sunday.

Acting on a tip-off, police arrested Udaiveer, 40, Sunil Pradhan, 25, and Sube Pehalwan, 23, from north Delhi's Alipur area on Saturday. Following their interrogation, 21-year-old Mohit Nagar was arrested from north Delhi's Bawana area.

Subsequently, Raman Gurang, 43, a former assistant sub-inspector of Punjab Police, was arrested on Sunday in connection with the case. Gurang was working as a personal bodyguard of Udaiveer.

Bharat Singh, 38, and two of his aides were shot at on March 29 while attending a programme in west Delhi's Najafgarh from where he was elected as a legislator in 2009 on the Indian National Lok Dal ticket.

Bharat Singh, who received more than two bullets, succumbed while undergoing treatment.

After the arrest of the five accused, Joint Commissioner of Police (Crime Branch) Ravindra Yadav claimed to have solved the murder of the former MLA. He said it was a case of personal enmity.

"The murder was the outcome of an ongoing personal enmity arising out of family feud in Najafgarh area. The entire conspiracy for the murder was hatched by Udaiveer," Yadav said.

He said the enmity began in 2002 when Bharat Singh's brother Kishen Pehalwan eliminated Udaiveer's father Surajmal, his brother Sukhbir Singh and his uncle Naryan Singh at a Haryana village where they had gone to attend a marriage.

Kishen Pehalwan has more than two dozen criminal cases registered against him, police said.

Again in 2009, Udaiveer, a resident of Najafgarh, had purchased three acre land from three people, who were allotted the land by the government.

Kishen Pehalwan knew that the land cannot be sold or purchased and he provoked one of the three people to register a case against Udaiveer.

Subsequently, Kishen Pehalwan also sought support from Udaiveer for his MLA election in 2009. But Udaiveer refused to support him and supported the rival party in the election.

The official said that to take revenge from Kishen Pehalwan and his family, Udaiveer attacked Bharat Singh in 2012 but failed to kill him that time.

The official said Udaiveer took help of 10 people to attack Bharat Singh on March 29.

A police hunt is on to nab Udaiveer's other associates identified as Hemant, Nitin, Ravi, Monu, Chooza and Deva.

The official further said that Hemant gave the tip-off to his associates about Bharat Singh's presence at the function.

"Udaiveer remained at his house at the time of the attack on Bharat Singh by his other associates," said a police official.

He said Sunil Pradhan, Hemant, Chooza and Deva sustained bullet injuries during the attack.