New Delhi: Police have arrested five people over the murder of a businessman near his factory in Bawana on Feb 9. Robbery was the likely motive behind the crime, according to the cops, though Rs 1 crore in cash was found intact in the car of Vaibhav Gandhi, the businessman, after it had been waylaid.The five — Arun (37), Sandeep (28), Sanjay (54), Ravinder (42) and Harish Kumar (45) — wanted to drive away with the car after killing him, but couldn’t, police said.
Though they were allegedly linked to the Lawrence Bishnoi gang, cops have not found any evidence of this association.On the morning of Feb 9, Gandhi was travelling from his Karol Bagh house to his factory that manufactures plastic granules. He was in his car and accompanied by three of his employees, police said. At around 11.45am, three men intercepted the car near his factory. Gandhi was chased and gunned down. The assailants fled with three bags containing his diaries, laptop and mobile phone.The next day, Randeep Malik and Anil Pandit, gangsters based in the US, in a social media post claimed responsibility for killing the businessman, alleging he was interfering in their affairs. However, police have found no evidence to support this angle.To hunt down the assailants, several police teams had been formed and footage from 1,000 CCTV cameras across Delhi-NCR was analysed, Ravindra Yadav, special commissioner of police (law and order), said.Teams under the supervision of DCP (outer north) Hareshwar Swami began the probe and found out that Ravinder, who was the driver of another businessman, had visited Gandhi’s office several times for some financial transactions. He allegedly passed on monetary information of Gandhi’s business to Sanjay, who had 60 prior criminal cases in Delhi and Uttar Pradesh, and was the alleged mastermind behind this plot. Sanjay then contacted the other men and conspired to rob the businessman.The group conducted a reconnaissance of Gandhi’s factory in Bawana three times in Jan and Feb. JCP Vijay Singh said that on Feb 9, the men reached the spot in advance. When Gandhi arrived, Arun, Sandeep and Sanjay, armed with pistols, fired two rounds at him. Harish was also at the spot and had a pistol. He was monitoring police movement so that he could alert the shooters, if required.“Sanjay and Ravinder wer e later apprehended from Sultanpuri and taken into five days of police custody. Based on their disclosures, Sandeep and Harish were also arrested,” Singh said. Police then laid a trap for Arun on Saturday. When he was spotted on a bike without a number plate, police signalled him to stop. He fired two rounds at the team. In self-defence, police retaliated, and after an exchange of fire, Arun was overpowered and apprehended. A .32 bore pistol, two empty cartridges and a stolen bike were seized from him. Arun, who was a bus conductor, had allegedly been involved in six criminal cases, while Sandeep has two previous cases against him.
