'Rajbir was murdered by professional killer'

Blue Star
Monday, June 09, 2008
'Rajbir was murdered by professional killer'

New Delhi: High-profile Delhi Police official Rajbir Singh was not murdered by realtor Vijay Bhardwaj but by a hired killer as part of a larger conspiracy, Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) sources said on Monday.

The CBI, which took over the probe into the sensational murder case, has come to the conclusion that Bhardwaj, who had confessed the crime, was only taking the blame on himself, they said.

After initial investigations, it has been found that two Dubai-based companies, which suffered losses due to Singh's actions, had hired a professional killer to murder him, the highly placed sources said.

According to the CBI probe, the private companies had been keeping a track on Singh's movement. The sources said a large amount of money was transferred to Bhardwaj's account after the murder. The role of Bhardwaj's servant Krishna is also under the scanner, the sources said.

Assistant Commissioner of Police Singh, 48, was shot dead March 24 in the Mehrauli-Gurgaon road office of property dealer Bhardwaj.

Bhardwaj, who claimed to be Singh's acquaintance of 20 years, confessed within hours that he had killed Singh as the latter had been threatening him to return some money.

The Gurgaon police that probed the crime earlier said Bhardwaj, 42, said in his confessional statement that he fired two bullets at Singh's head with a .32 bore revolver which, according to him, Singh had given him three days earlier.

The CBI took over the case June 3 after the victim's family complained that the police were not investigating the case properly.

Singh had earned the reputation of a super cop, taking on tough cases and solving them - even if it involved extra-judicial methods and violation of the suspects' basic human rights. He was instrumental in cracking the terror attacks on the parliament complex in 2001 and the Red Fort in 2000.

He was nicknamed "encounter specialist" - a euphemism for a cop who tracks down and kills suspected gangsters and terrorists without due process of law. He had over 50 kills to his credit.
Singh was granted the highest level of security cover. His personal security officer (PSO) and driver, accompanying him on the night of the crime, had left the spot after Krishna told them that Singh wanted them to wait at the IFFCO Chowk in Gurgaon, a suburban area on the outskirts of the national capital.

The Gurgaon police claimed that Singh was killed with a revolver, which was missing from a Hissar police official, under a “pre-meditated conspiracy”. The police were not been able to establish the route through which the revolver, belonging to additional superintendent of police Ashok Shoran, reached Singh, as claimed by the accused.

Source: Indo-Asian News Service