Sadar Bazaar murder: Family alleges murder fallout of political rivalry

At least 10 police teams have been deployed to arrest those involved in the murder of Sukhbir Khatana who was shot dead on Thursday inside a clothing showroom at Sadar Bazar.

Rajender Singh, assistant commissioner of police (city), said more than 10 police teams including personnel from the crime branch are carrying out raids within and outside the state to arrest the suspects.

On the complaint of Khatana’s son, Anurag (28), an FIR against Khatana’s second wife’s brother Chaman was registered at Civil Lines police station on Thursday. Police said Chaman is presently missing.

“We have come to know that Chaman was co-accused in a criminal case with notorious gangster Papla Gujjar, presently behind bars in Rajasthan, in Narnaul. He has a criminal antecedent and we are gathering further details,” Singh said.

Investigators said that they have received inputs that Gujjar’s henchman was probably involved in the murder. They said that Chaman was acquitted in a murder case, that took place in Narnaul, Mahendragarh in 2015, due to lack of evidence but Gujjar was convicted in connection to the same case in October last year.

At the mortuary on Friday, Anurag alleged that his father’s murder was a fallout of political rivalry over ward councillor election. “We have now come to know that Chaman had frequent meetings with political rivals of his father in the last one and a half months,” he alleged.

According to the family members, Khatana was preparing to contest ward elections. Anurag alleged that Chaman plotted with his father’s rival to eliminate him so that he could not contest election for the post of councillor from ward number two in Sohna again.

Khatana, a former vice chairman of Sohna market committee, was shopping at Sadar Bazar with his cousin when three to four suspects inside the showroom and shot him dead

A medical board of Dr Sudhir Kumar and Dr Bhanu Verma carried out Khatana’s autopsy which took two and a half hours to complete on Friday morning. Kumar said that the deceased had received eight to ten bullet wounds which were in head, neck, chest and abdomen.