Cops to muscle in on Pehalwan

The Delhi Police fears retaliatory killings in South-West Delhi’s Najafgarh area following former MlA Bharat Singh, alias Bharte’s murder. Krishan Pehalwan, Bharat’s elder brother and a sitting councillor from the area, is a well-known operator of a gangster racket and is believed to take some retaliatory measures after Sunday’s incident. Special Cell and Crime Branch — the two vital wings of Delhi Police — have cast their net wide to smoke out Pehalwan’s next move. Bharte was attacked in 2012 outside his office of Indian National lok Dal (INlD) located near Nangloi bus stand, following Pehalwan’s previous gang rivalries. The attackers, led by Udaiveer, had actually come to kill Pehalwan for slaying his father and sister-in-law in Sonepat in Haryana. 

In the past, Bharte was attacked four times by rival gang members, led by Udaiveer, Vikas langarpuria of langarpur village and Sandeep Mental, who once headed the Manoj Bakkarwala gang in 2012. The groups fought over turf.  According to residents of Dhichaon Kalan, Bharte, alias Bhai was a soft-spoken man and had a good reputation in the neighbourhood. “Whatever development work you see in our area is only because of him (Bharte),” said Randheer Singh, a retired Army official, who lives in the area. 

Bharte, who remained MlA from Najafgarh from 2009 to 2013, is survived by his wife and two sons, aged 12 and eight years. His father, Jai Singh, was a retired Armyman and used to lease his land to tenant farmers and the profession continues in the family.  Pehalwan, the eldest of four brothers, is a councillor from the Najafgarh ward 138 while his wife Neelam Krishan Pehalwan is a councillor from ward 139.