Police was yet to make any arrests in connection of the murder of Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) legislator Bharat Singh who was gunned down last evening in southwest Delhi's Najafgarh area while two of the four other persons injured in the attack remained critical.
According to DCP (southwest) R A Sanjeev, four persons including a woman and a minor boy had also suffered bullet injuries in the incident.
Other than one of Singh's personal guard, a woman identified as Sunita, Paras (16) and a Delhi Police constable, Sandeep were also injured in the incident. Sunita and Sandeep were discharged while Paras, who was shot in the abdomen, was still in hospital.
Singh had received six bullets, including two in his head from close range.
38-year-old Singh was attacked by over six armed men who had reached the spot in a SUV. At least 15-20 rounds of bullets were fired. He was later declared dead at Medanta hospital in Gurgaon.
While Singh was cremated in his native Dichaon village in Najafgarh in the afternoon, his elder brother Krishan Pehalwan, who has more than two dozen criminal cases registered against him accused the Home Ministry and Delhi Police of not giving adequate security to the former MLA leading to his death.
"My younger brother (Bharat Singh) was attacked in 2012 as well and he has been getting regular threats. We have been demanding adequate security for him since the last three years but the Delhi Police and Home Ministry did not pay heed to the request and he was killed," he told reporters in Dichaon village today.
Locals claimed that the attack was culmination of a longstanding rivalry between the two brothers and gang of local criminal Udayveer alias Kaale, who was recently released from jail.
Sources said that it is almost certain that the murder took place over a property dispute and a Haryana-based gangster is also suspected to have carried out the attack using UP-based shooters.
Delhi Police Commissioner B S Bassi however sought to downplay the incident as one of personal rivalry and not of gang-war. He also expressed confidence that investigators will be able to nab the assailants soon as police was working on certain leads.
