‘Court bomber’ took tips from Gogi shooting: Cops

The special cell filed a 1,040-page charge sheet in the case on March 15.

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.

Security personnel outside Rohini court after the explosion on December 9, 2021. HT

The special cell filed a 1,040-page charge sheet 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 charge sheet comprising 1,040 pages has been filed in the court. Further investigation is continuing and a supplementary charge sheet 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 charge sheet 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.

An officer privy to the details of the charge sheet said Kataria “planned and executed the IED blast on his own”, adding that he assembled the IED by watching videos on the Internet.

“The ammonium nitrate, battery, remote, shrapnels and other items used for assembling the IED were locally purchased. The remote that was used to trigger the IED was actually part of an anti-auto theft device installed in two-wheelers and is available at many shops in Delhi selling accessories related to two-wheelers,” the officer said, adding that they are still searching for the spot where the accused allegedly assembled the IED. The officer said those details will be mentioned in the supplementary charge sheet later.

The blast, and probe

On December 9, Vashisht was seated on a chair in courtroom number 102 and waiting for the hearing of his case against Kataria, when the latter left a black laptop bag containing the IED behind his chair. Thereafter, Kataria went some 100 metres away from the courtroom and triggered the IED using a remote control.

Vashisht suffered a shock and minor injury to his leg while a head constable, Rajeev, posted as a naib court in the courtroom, suffered injuries to his left shoulder and foot. Since the IED was not properly assembled, the explosion took place only in the detonator and a 12 volt two-wheeler battery, the police said.

A case was registered and the special cell team having 150 personnel and led by DCP Singh scanned over 150 CCTV cameras in and around the court complex, apart from verifying over 1,000 vehicles entering and exiting the court premises, to identify the suspect.