Non-bailable warrant out to nab gun-toting realtor
NEWDELHI: Police teams searched the residences, offices and other possible hideouts of Ashish Pandey, a realtor wanted for brandishing a pistol at a couple on the porch of five-star hotel Hyatt Regency on Sunday.
Devender Arya, deputy commissioner of police (southwest Delhi), said the police have obtained a non-bailable warrant against Ashish and are “putting pressure” on his family and friends to make him surrender.
Police said they were in contact with a few Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) leaders to get Ashish to surrender. The party had earlier said it had nothing to do with the crime and that Ashish was not even a BSP member.
Ashish’s father, Rakesh Pandey, was a BSP MP from UP’S Amabedkar Nagar constituency in 2009. Ashish’s brother, Ritesh Pandey, is a sitting BSP MLA from Jalalpur in Ambedkar Nagar district.
Ritesh said he and his family were in shock. “Ashish never had any criminal record. We are cooperating with the investigation and have full faith in the country’s judicial system,” the MLA said.
On Wednesday, the Delhi Police sent two more teams, including one with technical specialities, to Lucknow to search for Ashish. Five teams of the Delhi Police are coordinating their efforts with the UP Police.
“Ashish’s last known location was in Basti, near the Indo-nepal border, on Wednesday morning. He is with his wife and child,” the DCP said.
The officer said searches were mostly concentrated at the possible hideouts in Lucknow, eastern Uttar Pradesh and the Ambedkar Nagar district, the constituency of his father and brother.
Ashish allegedly escaped from his Lucknow house around 9.30am on Tuesday, immediately after a video of him brandishing a gun on the hotel porch went viral on social media. Fearing that Ashish may leave the country, the police have already issued a lookout notice (LOC) at airports and have alerted security agencies at the borders to prevent him from escaping to Nepal.
In Delhi, the police have taken statements of several eyewitnesses, including some of Ashish’s friends. These include a man named Sahil, who had allegedly thrown the party attended by Ashish along with three women friends.
“The woman seen abusing the couple in the video has been identified as a London resident who has a business in Dubai. She has left for Dubai and we are trying to contact her,” an investigator said. Overall, the police have analysed the CCTV footage to identify 14 persons who had witnessed parts of the incident.
While the police have questioned many relatives and friends of Ashish, they were yet to meet his father and brother, DCP Arya said. The UP Police said they have initiated the process of cancelling Ashish’s arms licence.