Delhi celebratory firing: 'We didn’t see anything,' 20 people tell cops

NEW DELHI: Former MLA Raju Singh and his driver Hari, arrested for celebratory firing at a New Year party that left an architect battling for life, will also be questioned on the source of 800-odd bullets recovered from Singh’s south Delhi farmhouse. The permissible number, even for licence holders, is 50.



The police are questioning relatives and the farmhouse staffers. Police said the victim, Archana Gupta, had come to the ex-MLA’s farmhouse, ‘Rose Farms’, in Fatehpur Beri, with husband Vikas, who is a friend of Singh’s brother Sanjeev.

She had joined others at the dance floor around 11.55pm. Some of the household helps who were tracked down by the cops revealed that there were 30-40 people on the dance floor and a loud music was blaring when, Raju whipped out a .22 bore pistol while his driver was spotted holding a rifle. The wound on Archana’s head suggests that she may have been hit by the bullet from the pistol, sources say.

Sources say Raju first started dancing with the guests and then went on a firing spree just around midnight. Cops say that at least eight-ten rounds were fired by the duo — who were in inebriated — one of which hit Gupta at the back of her head minutes after she had stepped onto the dance floor.

According to witnesses, the former MLA’s wife, who is also a three-time member of legislative council in Bihar, allegedly asked the household helps to remove blood stains from the dance floor and dispose the spent cartridges at one corner of the lawn that were recovered on Wednesday morning.

The guests were escorted out, asked to keep mum about the incident even as both Raju and his wife left in their respective cars. Police reached the spot in the early hours after being informed about the shooting by the hospital. Nobody from the spot made a PCR call.

The cops searched the farmhouse and found 800 rounds of different bores stacked in an almirah, out of which 100 were bought recently and billed in Hari’s name. The two rifles were found on a gun-rack at the house.

Meanwhile, a team tracked down the ex-MLA and his driver near Gorakhpur late on Tuesday evening. He was brought to Delhi around 12.30am. He claimed to be unwell and complained of pain in the chest multiple times, sources said, adding that he had even tried to bribe them.

Cops are now analysing the footage from CCTV cameras, most of which were found to be pointed towards a swimming pool on the premises.

The MLAs’ security guards and a gardener who were also present at the farmhouse are also being questioned. They and some guests tried to mislead the cops, claiming that Raju was busy watching television programs when Gupta was shot. More than 20 people have told cops that they did not see anything.

Meanwhile, JD-U has distanced itself from Raju Singh. Sanjay Jha, national general secretary of the party, told TOI that Raju Singh had no connection with JD(U). “He quit the party in 2014 and has nothing to do with us,” Jha said.