Lucknow: UP police – which was scratching its head over a murder case for nearly two weeks — on Friday claimed to have solved the mysterious killing of a 48-year-old property dealer, Tejpal Singh, whose body was recovered from his home in Bulandshahr on November 15. Investigations revealed a sordid saga where the hunter had become the hunted. Singh had hired two contract killers to eliminate his wife but the killers, unable to execute the murder, instead turned upon Singh since they did not want to part with the Rs 3 lakh advance paid to them by him.
Police said that Tejpal was shot dead in his house in the Kakod area. The place was locked from outside and cops had to break the door open. A case was lodged the same day against “unidentified persons” on the complaint of Singh’s wife Babita Devi.
SP city (Bulandshahr), Surendra Nath Tewari, said, “The family suspected two persons, Deep Singh Solanki and Balraj. The two were detained on Thursday and they finally spilled the beans during questioning.”
Revealing more details, the SP added: “Tejpal had a property dispute with his wife and had hired contract killers to eliminate her. He had promised Rs 6 lakh for the job and gave them Rs 3 lakh in advance. The killers did a recce and found it difficult to murder the woman due to the numerous CCTVs installed around her house. Not wanting to return the advance amount to Tejpal, they instead decided to shoot him dead.”
The SP said that on the evening of November 13, the two men first had drinks with Tejpal and then shot him in cold blood. They left the body inside the house and took away the keys. “The weapon used in the crime along with Rs 3 lakh cash and house keys were recovered from the accused’s possession,” he added.
Inspector Yagyadatt Sharma, leading the investigating team, said, “Tejpal was untraceable since November 13. His family complained that he had stopped taking calls. Subsequently, we found his body with bullet marks. It was over a day old. Postmortem confirmed that he was shot dead. Solanki belongs to the same neighbourhood while Balraj is from a nearby area.”
An FIR under IPC sections 302 (murder), 34 (criminal act done by several persons in furtherance of the common intention of all) and relevant sections of the Arms Act were registered against the two shooters.
Meanwhile, Tejpal’s wife Babita told police that she never had any intention of killing her husband over property matters and she had been living separately from him.
