The Delhi Police at the residence of ex-MLA Bharat Singh after his funeral. (Express Photo/Abhishek Angad/File)
Two key witnesses in the murder of former MLA Bharat Singh at a Najafgarh farmhouse have turned hostile while recording their statements in a city court. One of them is a Delhi Police constable, who had invited the MLA to the event where he was eventually killed. The other, Daljeet Singh, is a retired BSF Hawaldar. According to the prosecution, the two witnesses had, in their initial statement to police, identified the sequence of events as well as eyewitnesses and the accused.
According to police, Singh’s killing on March 29, 2015 was the fallout of a gangwar over property. Singh’s elder brother, Kishan Pehalwan, had an enmity over land, which had led to the death of gangster Udaiveer Kala’s father and brother in 2007. According to police, Singh was murdered by Udaiveer’s nephew Hemant and his associates as revenge.
Retired BSF Hawaldar Singh, in his statement to police, had said that he had accompanied Singh in his car, but was not his personal security officer. “I did not see any of the persons who fired bullets during the course of the incident,” he now said in court, even as the prosecution insisted that he had said otherwise in his statement.
Former MLA Bharat Singh was killed at a farmhouse on March 29, 2015 (Express Photo/Amit Mehra)According to the prosecution, Singh had identified Hemant in police presence. However, during his statement in court, he resiled from his previous statement.
According to the prosecution, he had earlier told police that he had apprehended a boy who had fired at Bharat Singh. According to his earlier statement, the boy had said: “Hemant dekh le tere chacha Udayveer ne jo kaha tha aaj kar diya.” However, in court, he denied telling police anything.
The Delhi Police constable is currently posted at RK Puram Traffic Circle. According to the prosecution, he had invited Singh and other guests to the event. In his statement to the court, he said that prior to the incident, he had sustained injuries and was rushed to the hospital, and could not see what had happened at the site of the incident.
However, according to the prosecution, he had rushed to the site after gunshots were fired, where he had allegedly seen Singh receive bullet injuries.
Additional Public Prosecutor Yogendra Yadari, who had cross-examined the constable, said: “He partly resiled from his statement to the police. He had invited all of them, and later failed to identify some of the persons.”