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Fugitive Baddo joined hands with Mooch to eliminate Jeeva: Police
Charge sheet in the Jeeva murder case in the court of chief judicial magistrate, Lucknow, on September 2, say police officials
LUCKNOW Fugitive west UP Mafioso Badan Singh Sandhu alias ‘Baddo’, the alleged key conspirator behind the murder of jailed gangster-politician Mukhtar Ansari’s henchman Sanjeev Maheshwari alias Jeeva, 48, had joined hands with another west UP gangster Sushil Mooch to eliminate Jeeva, said police officials.
Mooch, now in his 60s, is currently lodged in Kanpur jail with 49 criminal cases against him since 2003.
Besides mentioning Baddo as the key conspirator in the charge sheet filed in the Jeeva murder case, investigators mentioned the suspected role of Sushil Mooch and his gang members in the murder plot and further probe was on in the matter, said a senior police official. He said Baddo and Mooch were associated with each other for the past two decades.
The official said the charge sheet in the Jeeva murder case was filed in the court of chief judicial magistrate, Lucknow, on September 2. The probe was conducted under the supervision of a Special Investigation Team (SIT) comprising the then ADG (technical) Mohit Agarwal (now ADG ATS); the then joint commissioner of police (crime), Lucknow, Nilabja Chowdhury (now JCP Kanpur); and IG (Ayodhya range), Praveen Kumar, among others.
SIT head Mohit Agarwal confirmed that Jeeva was shot dead at the behest of Badan Singh.
Another senior police official said the investigation into the Jeeva murder case confirmed that nine people were involved in the conspiracy, including alleged shooter Vijay Yadav, who was arrested after the killing on June 7.
These people helped Yadav in identifying the court premises and its routes through video calls and taking him to Nepal to meet Baddo for the final deal for Jeeva’s killing for ₹50 lakh. Some of these people reached Lucknow before Yadav to ascertain Jeeva’s movement to court from jail and finalising the murder plan, he said.
The official said Baddo and Mooch joined hands as both were allegedly troubled by Jeeva.
In jail since March 2019, Mooch started his life in the crime world in 2003. Similar to Baddo, he used to sell spurious liquor by putting fake labels and holograms on bottles. His criminal history spans across Uttarakhand besides UP’s Muzaffarnagar, Meerut and Ghaziabad.
Badan Singh carried ₹5 lakh reward since May 25, 2023. He had escaped from police custody at a Meerut hotel in March 2019, after drugging police personnel, and has reportedly been living in Australia since then.
