Former MLA Amarpal Sharma surrenders

GHAZIABAD: Former MLA Amarpal Shrama on Tuesday surrendered before the court of additional chief judicial magistrate in Ghaziabad in connection with the murder of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Gajendra Bhati.

The UP Police had also announced a reward of ₹25,000 for information leading to Sharma’s arrest, but even the reward announcement had failed to elicit leads and the police had failed to arrest him so far. It was on September 2, on Eid, that Bhati was gunned down by two armed bikers in Khoda. Bhati’s friend and BJP’s Khoda ‘mandal’ head Balbir Chauhan also sustained bullets but survived.

Sharma is a former MLA and was elected on Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) ticket from Sahibabad constituency in the previous assembly elections.

Just before the recent UP assembly elections, the BSP expelled him from the party and Sharma later joined the Congress and contested the Sahibabad seat but lost to BJP candidate Sunil Sharma.

Kuldeep Singh, Sharma’s lawyer, said, “We had moved the Allahabad high court against the FIR lodged in connection with the murder case. However, due to court holidays, the matter got delayed. So, we decided to surrender before the Ghaziabad court. My client has been sent to 14 days’ judicial custody.” The police had earlier arrested one of the two bikers, Narendra Gurjar alias Fauji.

Soon after his arrest, Fauji had told mediapersons, “Sharma offered me ₹10 lakh to get rid of his rival. The second person with me was Raju Pehalwan. Sharma told me to get rid of me as Bhati may have posed problems in future elections. While I was on the way to collect the money, police arrested me from near Bhopra. Former councillor Pradeep Chaudahry was also killed at the behest of the former MLA Amarpal Sharma.”