Politician Deepak Bhardwaj of the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) was shot dead on Tuesday morning at his farm house in south Delhi's Rajokri area.
The 62-year-old slain businessman-cum-politician made headlines as the richest candidate from Delhi to contest in the 2009 Lok Sabha polls.
According to reports, two men had arrived at Bhardwaj's farmhouse - "Nitesh Kunj" - in a silver grey Skoda car around 8.55 am to book the farm house for a wedding. While talking to Bhardwaj, the killers reportedly had an argument. They were said to have fired three shots at Bhardwaj. Two other people were also injured in the incident.
"As they were talking, the two men took out firearms and opened fire at Bhardwaj. They then fled from the scene. The motive and the trigger for the firing is not immediately known. We are investigating the matter," a senior police official said, according to the Press Trust of India.
Bhardwaj, who was critically injured in the shootout, was rushed to Army's Research and Referral Hospital near Dhaula Kuan in Delhi. There he was declared dead on arrival. An autopsy will be performed in AIIMS.
Who was Deepak Bhardwaj?
Deepak Bhardwaj was a resident of Lajwanti Garden in West Delhi. The business tycoon owned businesses in real estate, hotels and education sectors.
He contested in the 2009 Lok Sabha elections as a BSP candidate from the West Delhi constituency, but lost to Congress' Mahabal Mishra. While filing his nomination papers, he had declared his assets to be worth around ₹600 crore. He was the richest candidate to contest from Delhi in the 2009 polls.
The businessman was engaged in the construction business for the last 30 years. He owned a township project in Haridwar in Uttaranchal and a construction company called Delhi Apartments Private Limited in Delhi.
Bhardwaj was also into education and hotel business. He ran a school in the Dwarka area of Delhi called the Shiksha Bharti Public School and owned the Nitesh Kunj Hotel Complex on the Delhi-Gurgaon expressway. He is also said to have possessed a lot of land in the Rajokri area.
He had been senior vice president of Kendriya Arya Sabha of Arya Samaj, Delhi.
According to India Today, Bhardwaj had two property related criminal cases pending against him in district courts of Delhi.
Bhardwaj is survived by his wife Ramesh Kumari and two sons.
