Jaipur: The Jaipur Police has arrested three men, including two shooters, for their alleged involvement in the Sukhdev Singh Gogamedi murder case after they were caught from Chandigarh in a joint operation conducted by the Rajasthan Police and the Delhi Police.
The accused, nabbed from outside a Chandigarh hotel on Saturday night, were brought to Jaipur amid tight security and taken to the Sodala police station.
Jaipur Police Commissioner Biju George Joseph told a press conference here that the shooters — Nitin Fauji and Rohit Rathore — along with their accomplice Udham Singh were held from sector 22 in Chandigarh.
Fauji, hailing from Haryana’s Mahendragarh, is a lance naik in the Army.
The Crime Branch of the Delhi Police and a special investigation team (SIT) of the Rajasthan Police, which was formed by the DGP, conducted the joint operation.
Fauji, along with Rathore and Naveen Shekhawat, went to the house of Gogamedi, the chief of the Shri Rashtriya Rajput Karni Sena, in Jaipur’s Shyam Nagar area on December 5.
After talking to him for a few minutes, the shooters opened fire at Gogamedi in his living room, leaving him dead. They also shot Shekhawat dead.
Gogamedi’s private security guard sustained bullet injuries in the incident. The accused had gone to Gogamedi’s house in a sports utility vehicle (SUV) that was driven by Shekhawat. While fleeing, they shot at a scooty driver and snatched the two-wheeler.
Joseph said after the killings, the shooters went to Deedwana in a Rajasthan Roadways bus and took a taxi for Sujangarh, from where they went to Dharuhera in Haryana. They then went to Rewari in a taxi from Dharuhera and took a train to reach Hisar where they met Udham Singh.
The trio then went to Manali in a taxi and stayed in a hotel for two days before going to Chandigarh, Joseph said.
He said the Haryana Police and the Delhi Police assisted the Rajasthan Police in the search operation. Inputs were also exchanged with the Punjab Police.
Gangster Rohit Godara, linked to the Lawrence Bishnoi gang, had claimed responsibility for Gogamedi’s killing in a Facebook post, saying the Karni Sena chief was backing his enemies.
Asked about the motive behind Gogamedi’s killing, Joseph said there is no clarity on it and anything concrete can only be said after the accused are interrogated.
“I cannot comment on the motive as of now. The shooters were nabbed on Saturday night and they will be interrogated,” he said.
On the role of Shekhawat, who was also killed by the accused, the police commissioner said he too was involved in the killing of Gogamedi.
The Jaipur Police arrested a man on Saturday for allegedly helping Fauji. He was produced before a magistrate who remanded him in police custody.
“The shooters and their facilitators have been arrested in the first phase. The next phase is about reaching out to the mastermind and conspirators,” Joseph said, adding that the Rajasthan Police will complete the task before the case is handed over to the National Investigation Agency (NIA).
Asked about the reasons why security was not provided to Gogamedi despite intelligence inputs about the attack and letters from the Karni Sena chief seeking a security cover, the commissioner said a judicial inquiry has been ordered by the police headquarters in this regard.
According to a press note issued by the Jaipur Police Commissionerate, on the day of the incident, Fauji was carrying two pistols with as many magazines with a total of 35 rounds while Rathore had a pistol and a magazine with 13 rounds.
Fauji had gone home in Mahendragarh on a two-day leave on November 7.
During his stay there, he and two of his friends — Bhawani Singh and Rahul Kothal — got involved in a scuffle with one Anupam Soni and others in Khudana village.
Bhawani Singh had an old dispute with Soni. Fauji, Bhawani Singh and Kothal had gone for a settlement of the dispute when the scuffle broke out and police had to arrive at the spot.
The trio fled the scene after opening fire on the Haryana Police personnel, following which a case was registered at the Sadar police station in Mahendragarh.
Meanwhile, the trio reached Hisar to evade arrest and their accommodation was arranged by Udham Singh.
Bhawani Singh was already in touch with Godara. He introduced Fauji to Godara over the phone and prepared him for executing Gogamedi’s killing.
He sent Fauji to Jaipur in a taxi on November 28. Fauji met Rathore on the Ajmer road in Jaipur on December 5. They were taken to Gogamedi’s house by Shekhawat in a Mahindra Scorpio car.
Joseph said the gang that arranged the weapons for the shooters has been identified and a separate investigation is being conducted in this regard.
The Rajasthan Police had announced a cash reward of Rs 5 lakh for information leading to the arrest of each accused.
Sources in the Delhi Police said a Crime Branch team, in a joint operation with the Rajasthan Police, nabbed the duo from Chandigarh’s sector 22.
PTI