Delhi ‘court bomber’ took tips from Jitender Gogi shooting, say cops

NEW DELHI: The Delhi Police special cell investigating an explosion inside the Rohini court on December 9 last year has claimed that the arrested accused, Bharat Bhushan Kataria (47), a Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) scientist, drew lessons from the murder of gangster Jitender Gogi inside the same court complex on September 24, as he allegedly began planning the explosion to kill his former neighbour, police said on Monday.

The special cell filed a 1,040page chargesheet in the case on March 15. “During the investigation, sufficient evidence has come on record to establish the culpability of the accused beyond doubt. The entire investigation was conducted in a highly professional and scientific manner. A chargesheet comprising 1,040 pages has been filed in the court. Further investigation is continuing and a supplementary chargesheet will be filed after the probe is complete,” said deputy commissioner of police (special cell) Rajiv Ranjan Singh.

According to the investigators, Kataria dressed as a lawyer to circumvent the security apparatus at the court and enter the premises with the improvised explosive device (IED) without being checked, a ploy similar to the one carried out by Gogi’s assassin to gain access to the court. Gogi was shot dead by two armed assailants inside courtroom number 207 of the

Rohini court on September 24 last year. The two assailants were subsequently shot dead by security personnel. The chargesheet claimed that Kataria “knowingly and deliberately placed and triggered an IED using a remote trigger on December 9, 2021, in the court of metropolitan magistrate (MM) Pritu Raj, room number 102, Rohini court complex, with the intention to kill his rival Amit Vashisht.” The police have chargesheeted Kataria under Indian Penal Code’s section 307 (attempt to murder) and section 3 of the Explosive Substance Act (causing explosion likely to endanger life or property). The investigating team has also claimed that he “endangered the life of other persons present in the court including the judge, court staff, advocates and other litigants with his heinous act.”

Kataria was arrested on December 17 last year with, even at the time, police alleging that he carried out the explosion to kill his former neighbour Vashisht with whom he was locked in “protracted legal battles” for nearly a decade.

While in custody of the investigating team, he allegedly attempted to kill himself by consuming handwash, following which he was admitted to the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS). Kataria is presently in Tihar jail, the police said.