The Special Investigating Team (SIT) led by a Joint Commissioner of Police probing the ‘staged shootout’ of alleged real estate cheat Manoj Vashisht, on Wednesday recreated the crime scene similar to that of Sagar Ratna restaurant in Rajendra Nagar. The probing team also met witnesses who were present inside the restaurant when Vashisht was allegedly gunned down by a team of Delhi Police Special Cell. Meanwhile, the list of complainants against Vashisht became longer with several people from Haryana, Punjab and Delhi having approached the Delhi Police narrating how Vashisht duped them.
Sources said the SIT officials have found that Vashisht had died after a bullet fired from his own pistol. The bullet had hit his lower jaw and making its way out through his head. Inspector Dharmendra Kumar and constable Jitendra had entered Sagar Ratna restaurant to question Vashisht.
“The trajectory of bullet shot from his pistol hit the window pane before piercing through his head from right to left. The second bullet fired from the pistol of sub-inspector Bhoop Singh hit the other windowpane grazing Vashist’s waist,” a highly-placed source said.
The SIT officials, however, would wait for the forensic and ballistic reports of both the pistols and used cartridges that were fired from Vashisht’s and Bhoop Singh’s weapons to ascertain which bullet proved fatal.
The SIT team led by Deputy Commissioner of Police (Central) Parmaditya investigated in the restaurant for two hours. The team met restaurant owner and staff members, who were present during the incident. They also met all seven people, including three women, who were with Vashisht at the time of ‘shootout’.
After the ‘shootout’, Police Commissioner BS Bassi constituted the SIT to probe the incident. He also marked a vigilance enquiry and transferred all nine members of the police team after Vashisht’s widow alleged that policemen were extorting her husband.