E-Paper
Contract killer behind Delhi hotelier murder arrested from Telangana
According to police, the alleged contract killer, Bhullu Patel alias Golu, was arrested on December 15 from Telangana by the Vasant Kunj South police team and was brought to Delhi on December 18.
Nearly two months after a 52-year-old hotel owner, who had retired from Indian Air Force, was shot dead outside his hotel in south Delhi’s Mahipalpur, police on Monday said they have arrested the alleged contract killer behind the murder.
Delhi Police had already arrested six persons, including prime suspect Roshan Mishra, who had leased the victim Krishan Pal Sehrawat’s hotel and was engaged in a tussle with him over pending electricity bills and non-payment of lease amount, within a week of the murder on October 31 this year.
According to police, the alleged contract killer, Bhullu Patel alias Golu, was arrested on December 15 from Telangana by the Vasant Kunj South police team and was brought to Delhi on December 18.
Police said Patel’s arrest is crucial because the recovery of the murder weapon is a key evidence required to finish the investigation.
“The contract killer had absconded and had been only using his social media accounts to contact his family and friends through calls and text messages. He was using hotspots via WiFi networks of associates to make internet calls and messages. Investigators kept a surveillance on his social media activities and raided several places in Delhi, Haryana, Bihar and Telangana to nab him. He was finally caught from Telangana,” said the officer.
Six persons, including Mishra, were arrested within a week after Sehrawat was shot dead on October 31 outside the hotel, Dolphin International, that he had leased out to Mishra in January. Sehrawat was involved in a dispute with Mishra over pending electricity bills and non-payment of the lease amount, both running into around ₹5 lakh. Sehrawat had asked Mishra to cancel their deal and vacate his property if he was not willing to pay the money, police said.
The other five arrested persons were identified as Guddu Seikh, Mohammad Haseeb, Avinash, Alok Rai, and Harender. They are presently in Tihar jail along with Mishra, police said.
A senior police officer, associated with the probe, said that the interrogation of the six men had revealed that Patel was the alleged gunman.
According to police, Patel revealed that he often stayed at the hotel as Mishra’s guest and when Mishra told him about his dispute with Sehrawat, he agreed to help him take care of him.
