Police arrest former JDU MLA Raju Singh. (Source: PTI Photo)A Delhi Court Thursday sent former MLA Raju Singh and his driver Hari Singh to seven-day police custody, in connection with the death of architect Archana Gupta in celebratory firing, with metropolitan magistrate Anurag Dass saying that the remand was required for further investigation.
The incident took place on the intervening night of December 31-January 1 at Rose Farm in Fatehpur Beri. As the clock approached midnight, Singh allegedly fired several rounds in the air, and one of them hit Gupta, who died Thursday.
Singh and his driver had fled the spot, and were arrested from Gorakhpur, near the Nepal border, Wednesday. He and his driver have been booked under IPC sections 307 (attempt to murder) and 201 (causing disappearance of evidence).
In court, public prosecutor Anil Paswan submitted that the DJ floor, where people were dancing, had been removed and the blood washed from the spot. Police recovered a large number of cartridges and a rifle of .315 calibre from the farmhouse. The prosecutor submitted that they also recovered bloodstains on Aadhaar and voter ID cards found in the servant quarters of the farmhouse.
Seeking the remand, Paswan submitted: “There has been tampering with the evidence… Empty cartridges lying on the spot have been destroyed… Bloodstained clothes worn by the accused are yet to be recovered.”
On Thursday, police also arrested Singh’s wife and domestic help for allegedly tampering with and destroying evidence. Special CP (law and order) R P Upadhyay confirmed that Renu Singh (41) and domestic help Raminder Singh (48) had been arrested.
The farmhouse where the incident took place. (Express photo: Mahender Singh Manral)The defence counsel objected to the ex-MLA’s remand, stating that the accused had already been arrested and that the weapons were licensed. “As per the FIR, her own husband has approached the victim (Archana), not the accused, so the bloodstains are not on the accused’s clothes… Also, the accused did not flee, he had gone to a temple.”
However, an officer said: “Raju and Hari had switched off their phones after the incident, but after around 30 minutes, Hari inserted a new SIM card in his phone and police were able to start tracking him.”
Police have added IPC Section 302, which pertains to murder, punishable with a maximum term of life imprisonment or death sentence, to the FIR.
Sources said Singh had arrived in his farmhouse on December 31 from Bihar, and had joined the party in the evening. “He told police he got the gun licence on the grounds that he lies in a Naxal-dominated area,” an officer said. Police said they are taking help from a ballistic expert to study the trajectory of the bullet and how it hit Gupta.
According to police, CCTV footage from the farmhouse shows Raju and his driver roaming with weapons before midnight.
“After their arrest, Raju and Hari Singh were taken to AIIMS for medical examination, and later produced in court. Forensic test was also done to ascertain who fired the shots,” a senior police officer said.
In his complaint to police, Archana’s husband Vikas Gupta has said they were at the farmhouse on Monday to celebrate the New Year. He said Archana hugged her family before returning to the dance floor at midnight, when she was hit by a bullet.
