‘Betrayed’ son wanted revenge

A son who felt betrayed by his father, a lawyer who felt cheated by his rich client and an elusive godman who needed money to buy land for his ashram made for a heady cocktail of a revenge plot that resulted in the killing of Deepak Bhardwaj — a politician and real estate tycoon, reports Jatin Anand.

A son who felt betrayed by his father, a lawyer who felt cheated by his rich client and an elusive godman who needed money to buy land for his ashram made for a heady cocktail of a revenge plot that resulted in the killing of Deepak Bhardwaj — a politician and real estate tycoon.

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Nitesh, 36, an angry son looking for an opportunity to overthrow his authoritarian father, had just gotten a whiff of the latter’s designs to legally disown him and his depressed mother.

Baljeet Singh Shekhawat, a 51-year-old advocate-cum-property dealer who specialised in reaping benefits out of property disputes felt cheated at being denied his commission. And then there was Swami Pratibhanand whose desperate need to own his own ashram made him become a part of the murder plan.

“Sometime in mid-2012, Nitesh had demanded that Deepak give him some share in his realty business, which he had been helping him manage for five years. Butthe latter had refused,” said a police officer.

“To add insult to injury, Deepak had unceremoniously chucked Nitesh out of his residential farmhouse and told him not to show his face to him again. This had prompted him to stomp off in anger and decide to start his own small-time real estate business,” the officer said.

The decision to achieve his professional ambitions ironically brought Nitesh closer to the man who later prompted him to bump off his father.

In addition to having represented Bhardwaj in three to four property dispute cases, Shekhawat had also helped him purchase some land. This prompted Nitesh to seek his support in setting-up his own nascent enterprise.

“The two had grown closer and one day, the day he was insulted by Deepak when he demanded his payment, he complained to Nitesh about his father’s miserliness,” the officer said. Nitesh was also wary of his father’s reported move to legally disown him and his mother.

“In fact, Nitesh not only had a similar grudge against his father, but had recently found out that Deepak was enquiring about how to go about divorce proceedings if the need arose.” Deepak had gradually grown too intimate with a female employee that Nitesh had had a fling with before she decided to overlook him for his wealthier and relatively well-established father.

“He feared that an impulsive Deepak, who considered himself too much of a ladies’ man despite his age, would not only marry her, but would even write-off a substantial chunk of his property in her name. This apprehension ended up becoming the perfect trigger for the conspiracy,” the officer said.