Gurugram arms scam kingpin Manish Bhardwaj shot by aide

Gurugram, June 7

A 42-year-old arms dealer was shot dead allegedly by one of his aides in the city’s Madanpuri road area on Tuesday. Deceased Manish Bhardwaj, alias Kala, was the kingpin of the fake arms licence scam of 2017.

The incident led to panic in the city, with cops conducting raids to nab the accused. The police suspect a financial feud as the motive behind the crime. According to the police, Bhardwaj and his aides Sunny Kant and Pramod alias Bablu, were travelling in a Bolero vehicle. The trio drove around for almost two hours. When Bhardwaj was about to get down to pick up his two-wheeler, Sunny shot him thrice and fled in another vehicle which was coming behind, the police said.

Bhardwaj was rushed to hospital where he was declared dead. An FIR under Section 302 of the IPC and Sections 25, 54, and 59 of the Arms Act was registered against Sunny. “We have formed special teams to conduct raids to nab the suspect,” said Deepak Saharan, DCP (West).

Bhardwaj was earlier booked in the fake arms licence scam, which was busted in 2017. The police had recovered seven illegal weapons and 5,000 cartridges from his possession. Suspect Sunny, a cloth merchant and resident of Krishna colony, was co-accused in the case and both were on bail since July 2017, the police said.