The verdict in the Atma Ram Gupta case was welcomed by his family members. But they aver that the real truth behind the killing has not been investigated and still remains under wraps.
According to the prosecution, Congress councillor Atma Ram Gupta was murdered by his colleague Sharda Jain.
Gupta’s son Amit Gupta said the family is convinced that the murder was politically motivated. “The love triangle theory put forth by the police is only an attempt to malign our family and father, whose steep political graph was being rued by some quarters,” said Amit, who is a businessman.
Amit said his family had not even heard of Sharda Jain till six months before the incident. “My father had been elected as municipal councillor the second time, whereas Sharda Jain was relatively new in the political arena. Since my father was elected from the Tri Nagar ward and Sharda Jain represented the neighbouring ward of Keshavpuram, my father only tried to help her by inviting her to functions and inaugurations to promote her political career,” said Amit.
Gupta’s brother Ved Gupta too said that Gupta interacted with Jain as a colleague. “It was not like she was a regular visitor to our house,” he said.
{{/usCountry}}Gupta’s brother Ved Gupta too said that Gupta interacted with Jain as a colleague. “It was not like she was a regular visitor to our house,” he said.
{{/usCountry}}Gupta was murdered in August 2002 and the Delhi Assembly elections were slated to take place the year after. Amit claims that his father stood a good chance of becoming an MLA because of his popularity as a municipal councillor.
“My father was only the chairman of the Appointments Committee, but he made it to the newspapers more often than the mayor or other important functionaries of his time. He had done his M.Sc. and had a knack of putting up complex issues in simple ways and getting things done… he was very popular and had achieved political fame in a very short span,” said Amit.
Congress tight-lipped
Congress leaders remained tight-lipped on the court’s verdict saying it was a personal matter involving two individuals. “The party has nothing to do with what happened. The incident was definitely an embarrassment as it involved two sitting councillors. However, it was their personal matter,” said MCD Leader of House Jitender Kochhar.
The court verdict, however, has provided the BJP with an opportunity to put the Congress on the back foot in the forthcoming municipal elections.
“We have always maintained that the Congress has promoted people with a criminal bent of mind and today’s court verdict vindicates this stand.
“In fact, all municipal councillors facing CBI and police cases at present are from the Congress, which is the reason why the MCD is looked upon as the most corrupt organisation and has been unable to provide clean governance,” said Leader of Opposition in MCD Subhash Arya.
Email Vibha Sharma: vibha@hindustantimes.com