Ex-MLA murder case: Main accused held in Gurgaon

GURGAON: The police arrested Hemant alias Pradhan, the prime accused in the murder of former Delhi MLA Bharat Singh Beniwal, and one of his aides from Daulatabad flyover in the wee hours of Monday.

After a brief exchange of fire, the police nabbed the accused and recovered a huge cache of arms and ammunition. The accused were travelling towards Delhi. Hemant had a reward of ₹1 lakh on his head.

The duo was intercepted by a team from Palam Vihar crime branch. The team was led by inspector Sajjan Singh, who had set up a barricade as part of the night domination exercise on Sunday.

Hemant, a prominent gangster from Najafgarh in Delhi, had been absconding since the last two years after the murder of the former Najafgarh MLA on March 29, 2015. Hemant is also the cousin of Udayvir alias Kala, the mastermind in the former MLA’s murder. Police suspect that Hemant and his associates were also planning to eliminate Singh’s cousin Krishan Pehalwan, who, too, hailed from Najafgarh and used to be a gangster.

Gurgaon police commissioner Sandeep Khirwar said that the duo was arrested after a brief gunfight at Daulatabad flyover around 4am in the morning.

“The accused had kept the weapons in a bag and were travelling from Dhankot towards Gurgaon when a crime branch team intercepted team. A total of five rounds, two from the accused and three from policemen, were fired during the encounter after which the accused were arrested,” Khirwar said.

The police recovered 15 firearms, including six countrymade pistols, six pistols, a revolver and 62 live cartridges, from their possession. “A Maruti Brezza, which the accused snatched from Bajghera, was also recovered from them. Hemant is involved in the murder of Bharat Singh, and Vipin, the prime witness in that case, was also shot dead near Japanese park in Rohini,” Sumit Kuhar, DCP, crime, said.

The other arrested accused arrested was identified as Narender alias Mintu, who is involved in a car snatching incident in Bajghera area of Gurgaon.

The accused have been booked under sections 307 (attempt to murder), 476 (possessing counterfeit marked material) and 34 of IPC. They were produced in court on Monday, the police said.