AFP/New Delhi
Attackers shot dead a multi-millionaire businessman and populist politician at his luxury farmhouse yesterday on the outskirts of the Indian capital, police said.
Deepak Bharadwaj, a 62-year-old leader of the low-caste Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) who had declared wealth of Rs6bn ($108mn), was gunned down by three men early yesterday, police said.
“They entered the place saying they came to book the place for a marriage, because such functions take place there. They went inside and started talking to Bharadwaj before shooting him twice,” Police Commissioner Neeraj Kumar said.
Bharadwaj, who was an unsuccessful candidate in the 2009 national elections, had real estate, hotel and other interests.
Police said a property dispute could have been behind the killing.
Last November powerful liquor baron Ponty Chadha, dubbed the “Baron of Booze” by the media, and his brother Hardeep died in a shootout at their farmhouse on Delhi’s outskirts when a family property feud turned fatal.