As investigators dig deeper into the mysterious murder-cum-suicide case of Inspector Badrish Dutt and his live-in partner Geeta Sharma, new skeletons have begun tumbling out of the closet. It has now emerged that Geeta, a two-time divorcee, was blackmailing Dutt.
Geeta, who had been living in Delhi and the NCR for over two decades, ran a shady detective agency and was exploiting the expertise of Dutt, who was a master tracker-cum-interceptor of calls made from any device.
He had been accessing Call Data Records (CDRs) for her illegally. She began threatening to expose him, as their relationship had become strained. It appears that Geeta and Dutt had a heated argument on the fateful night and an incensed Dutt killed Geeta and then shot himself.
However, the seeds of the tragedy had been sown one month ago when the sleuths of the anti-extortion cell of the Crime Branch raided Geeta’s apartment at Ardee City in Sector-52, Gurgaon. Dutt, who was present there, entered into a heated argument with the police team and objected to the raid.
Crime Branch officials briefed the Delhi Police top brass about this incident and a Departmental Enquiry (DE) was ordered against Dutt.
The DE put Dutt under tremendous pressure, sources said.later, Geeta was arrested by the anti-extortion cell of the Crime Branch for her role in a case of forgery involving the Ministry of Home Affairs. She was sent to judicial custody for 21 days and had returned to her apartment just a week ago.
“After her return Geeta started demanding money from Dutt and threatened to name him as one of her associates,” sources said.Most importantly, Geeta was aware of the properties owned by Dutt and his other investments and was threatening to expose him.
It would be pertinent to mention here that The Pioneer had broken the story about Arvind Dabas, a Delhi Police constable accessing CDRs of powerful politicians like leader of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha Arun Jaitley and others illegally. The constable’s arrest led to the subsequent arrest of private detectives Neeraj, Dr Anurag Singh and Nitish. Following the incident, Delhi Police top brass issued instructions about CDRs and several checks and balances were put into place. Fearing trouble, Dutt, who was supplying CDRs to Geeta for her detective agency, began distancing himself from her.
He did not visit Geeta when she was arrested and jailed and she was upset with Dutt as he deserted her when she needed him the most. Geeta mentioned this fact in her personal diary.
However, Dutt was aware that investigators probing suspended Constable Arvind Dabas’ shady deals were closing in on his activities too.This fact and Geeta’s threats left Dutt feeling trapped and worried, resulting in the tragedy, the sources added.