Six detained over attack on BJP leader

BJP leader Brijpal Teotia, shot and wounded on Thursday night, was stable on Friday, police said, adding that the attack appeared to be an outcome of personal enmity.

Six persons have been detained for questioning, including an Uttar Pradesh Police constable whose late gangster husband Rakesh Hasanpuria was a sworn enemy of Teotia, Superintendent of Police Rakesh Pandey said.

"Prima facie the incident seems to be an outcome of personal enmity," he said.

"Teotia has had a rivalry with a dreaded criminal, Hasanpuria, who was killed by Ghaziabad police. His wife Sunita, a constable, is among those detained. But till now no arrest has been made," Pandey added.

Teotia was returning to his house in Kavi Nagar from Rawali village at around 8.30 p.m. on Thursday when the assailants in a Toyota Fortuner overtook his Scorpio and started firing indiscriminately.

A hundred rounds were fired at Teotia and his guards from automatic weapons, including an AK-47.

The BJP leader sustained six gunshot wounds and was rushed to the Sarvodaya Hospital from where he was referred to Fortis Hospital at Noida. He is still warded there.

His guards were also wounded, police said.

The police found automatic weapons dumped in a three-wheeler. The seized weapons included an AK-47 and 9mm pistols along with over a hundred used cartridges.

BJP leaders, including union ministers Mahesh Sharma and General V.K. Singh, BJP state unit General Secretary Pankaj Singh and State President Keshav Prasad Maurya visited Teotia at the hospital.

Senior police officers also visited the hospital.

Teotia contested the 2012 assembly election from Murad Nagar on BJP ticket but lost. He was preparing to contest the next assembly elections due next year.

--IANS

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