Former JD (U) MLA Raju Singh and his driver-cum-bodyguard were on Wednesday detained from Kushinagar in Uttar Pradesh. Singh is accused of celebratory firing during a party at his farmhouse on the New Year eve in which a woman sustained a bullet wound in her forehead. A police team also visited Singh's farmhouse in Fatehpuri Beri in South Delhi and seized two rifles and 700 live bullets from his farmhouse.
According to senior police officials, Singh and Hari Singh, who is Singh's driver-cum-bodyguard, have been detained from Kushinagar and will be brought to Delhi on Thursday morning. Meanwhile, the victim is brain dead and her family members plan to donate her organs.
"The two are being brought to Delhi for questioning. Further investigation is underway. A pistol was also found from his possession. We are checking if it's a licenced gun or not ," said a senior police officer.
A team visited the farmhouse on Wednesday morning and recovered two rifles and a cache of live ammunition from the farmhouse that is owned by Singh's mother.
"We are also enquiring about the involvement of other family members of Singh in destroying evidence. Apart from Singh, his wife who is a former Member of Legislative Council of Bihar, and his brothers were questioned by the cops," said a senior police officer.
The police said that they have booked Singh for attempting a murder under IPC section 307 and Arms Act. A senior police official said Singh has has five police cases registered against him in Bihar.
Meanwhile, national general secretary of JD (U) Sanjay Jha said that Raju Singh left the party in 2014. "He has no association with our party since then. After quitting JD (U), he even fought election in 2015 from Sahebganj constituency of Muzaffarpur against our party, but lost," Jha said.
On December 31, Singh, who was hosting a New Year party at the farmhouse, allegedly fired 2-3 gun shoots during celebratory firing. One of the bullets hit a 42-year-old woman Archana Gupta, an architect, who lives in Gautam Nagar and was a guest at the party with her husband.
A team of south Delhi police on Tuesday visited the farmhouse in order to recreate the sequence of events.
Sources added that there were around 70 guests at the party. Prima facie, it appears that around 30 to 40 people were dancing on the dance floor when Raju and his bodyguard Hari started firing in the air. Singh was firing from his pistol while Hari fired with the rifle. Sources stated that Gupta was hit by a bullet from the pistol. However, the matter will be ascertained by forensic experts. The police are also scanning the CCTV footage to know the exact sequence of events and collect evidences.
The woman has been in a critical condition and on the life support system ever since she was admitted to the hospital. The hospital spokesperson on wednesday stated that the patient was brought to the Emergency at 00:18 am on January 1, 2019 by her attendant in an extremely critical condition. "She was attended by the doctor immediately and the medical treatment was administered as per protocol. Delhi Police was informed and a medico-legal case (MLC) was registered," he said.
On December 31, Singh, who was hosting a New Year party at the farmhouse, allegedly fired 2-3 gun shoots during celebratory firing. One of the bullets hit a 42-year-old woman Archana Gupta, who was a guest at the party with her husband.