Two weeks after the sensational murder of Deepak Bhardwaj shook the Capital, his younger son Nitesh was arrested on charges of conspiracy on Tuesday.
However, the police have still not given Bhardwaj’s wife Ramesh Kumari and his elder son Hitesh a clean chit and their movements and intentions are under the lens.
31-year-old son Nitesh was ostensibly cross with his father as Bhardwaj had not only denied him entry to the farmhouse cum hotel ‘The Nitesh’ at Rajokari, but had also been cruel to him.
Bhardwaj, who was worth hundreds of crores of rupees, had a tempestuous relationship with his wife and two sons. He had stopped helping them financially and was even thinking of leaving his entire estate in the name of his paramour, a 29-year-old woman.
Nitesh’s anger towards Bhardwaj had turned into hatred and he sought the help of his father’s friend, advocate Baljeet Singh Sherawat in getting rid of him.
Sherawat who was more into property deals than the legal profession, agreed to help him, provided Nitesh funded his entire election campaign. Sherawat, a resident of Nangli Dewat Village was confident about his candidature in the coming Delhi Assembly elections.
In the end however, he sealed the deal with Nitesh for Rs5 crore. The duo began working on the plan to eliminate Bhardwaj in November, 2012 and it was Sherawat who roped Swami Pratibhanand into the conspiracy.
Swami Pratibhanand needed Rs1.5 crore to set up an ashram for himself and Sherawat played on his need for money. It was Pratibhanand who convinced Purushottam Rana alias Monu to kill Bhardwaj and promised him Rs1 crore for the job. Sunil Mann, the second shooter, and driver Amit were roped in by Monu. The operation was planned by the killers who were given Rs2 lakh by Pratibhanand. Even though Sherawat had taken Rs50 lakh as advance from Nitesh, he gave Pratibhanand just Rs4 lakh out of the lot.
Nitesh who confessed his crime before the Investigating Officer (IO), was so angry with his father that he wanted him eliminated as soon as possible. Nitesh wanted to avenge the insult heaped on him by his father by banning his entry into the farmhouse, ironically named after him, and giving the guards instructions not to let him enter. Bhardwaj had also made it clear to Nitesh that he would disinherit him.
Nitesh reportedly confessed during interrogation that his father was very rude to him, his elder brother Hitesh and mother Ramesh Kumari and they were living separately from Bhardwaj after serious differences cropped up between them.
DCP, South, Chhaya Sharma said on Tuesday: “We have recovered Rs 30 lakhs from the possession of the accused.” Police have also recovered two country-made pistols used in the murder and three cars; a Swift, a Skoda and a Santro.
Asked when it really dawned upon them that Nitesh had a hand in the murder, the DCP said that he had lied to them on several key issues and had even destroyed his cellphone, the day his father was murdered.
He tried to convince the IO that the phone broke after it slipped out of his hand, but failed. The police soon called his bluff by checking the call data records of his second phone number.
“We got the full details and when he was confronted with the facts he was left with no other option but to confess,” police said. Meanwhile, the police have stepped up the hunt to locate Swami Pratibhanand.
Pratibhanand had left Delhi on March 24 to avoid being caught. He had tried to create a façade by going to Hardwar for two days before the murder. He was in Hardwar from March 25 to 30 and then moved to Indore to stay with his friend Avinash Shastri. Police brought Shastri in for questioning but let him go after he was found to be innocent.