Killers of wine shop manager arrested from Uttam Nagar

During the investigation, it was revealed that even though Bhushan was not involved in public dealings at his workplace, he could be seen handling the sale proceeds of the wine shop in the late evening hours.

NEW DELHI: Eleven days after a government wine shop assistant manager was allegedly waylaid, stabbed and shot dead by a group of car-borne assailants outside his home in south Delhi’s Mehrauli, the Delhi Police on Sunday claimed to have solved the gruesome murder case.

Two assailants who were involved in the crime were arrested on Saturday evening following a brief gun battle they had with the police team in west Delhi’s Uttam Nagar. The interrogation of Pankaj Sharma and Dharmendra Yadav led to the arrest of the third suspect, Vivek Kashyap, from Saket. Two more suspects are absconding in the case.

The police said it was a case of robbery attempt that went horribly wrong. The assailants assumed that the 43-year-old assistant manager, Brij Bhushan, carried the day’s collection from the wine shop, as they had observed him carry two bags home every night after work. But that wasn’t the case. Bhushan, a contractual employee of Delhi Tourism and Transport Development Corporation (DTTDC), wasn’t carrying the shop’s cash.

Bhushan’s murder had made headlines because he was murdered in a planned and brutal manner. The entire event was captured on a CCTV camera installed near the crime scene. In the five-minute long video footage, it was evident that the assailants had strategically parked their Santro car in the lane in such a way that Bhushan’s car can be easily blocked. The fact that the attackers were carrying weapons in their vehicle suggests that they had come with an intention to kill.

Ishwar Singh, deputy commissioner of police (south), said that the accused had thought that Bhushan used to carry earnings (in cash) of the day to home and hatched a plan to rob him.

On December 20, when Bhushan was on his way to home in his Wagon R car after closing the shop, he was attacked by some persons who also fired at him. His car was vandalised. Bhushan was taken to a hospital where he succumbed to his injuries the next morning. A case of murder was registered at the Mehrauli police station.

“During the investigation, it was revealed that even though Bhushan was not involved in public dealings at his workplace, he could be seen handling the sale proceeds of the wine shop in the late evening hours,” Singh said adding the shop was frequented by many servants, delivery boys and restaurant employees in the evenings to purchase liquor for their employers.

Further probe revealed that at least four local delivery boys and some other blue collar workers were missing from their workplace after the murder. Investigators collected details about the missing persons and further corroborated their role in the crime by matching their photographs with images of the suspects captured in the CCTV footage.

On Saturday, a senior police officer said, the investigating team was tipped-off about arrival of two suspects in Uttam Nagar. A trap was laid and Sharma and Yadav were caught after a brief shootout in which luckily nobody was hurt. Kashyap was caught later.

During the interrogation, Kashyap revealed that he used to visit the wine shop frequently and had on several occasions seen Bhushan counting cash. Bhushan used to leave for home in his car with some bags. Kashyap thought that Bhushan used to carry the cash proceeds from the shop home and told his brother-in-law Pankaj Sharma about it. Sharma hatched the plan and brought in Yadav and two other accomplices.