Nearly two weeks after an Aligarh businessman was shot dead, police arrested the key accused, Pooja Shakun Pandey (42), who used to be an office bearer of the Akhil Bharat Hindu Mahasabha (ABHM), in connection with the case. According to police, she was caught in Bharatpur on Friday evening. Her arrest comes nearly a week after the police arrested her husband, ABHM spokesperson Ashok Pandey, and the two shooters the couple allegedly hired, Mohammad Fazal and Mohammad Asif, to kill Abhishek Gupta for Rs 3 lakh. Abhishek (24) hailed from Hathras and owned a bike showroom in Aligarh’s Khair. Superintendent of Police, Aligarh (City), Mrigank Shekhar Pathak, told The Indian Express that preliminary investigation revealed that it was a business deal that went sour between Pooja and Abhishek. She allegedly wanted a cut in Abhishek’s bike business, but he refused. Police, however, are also probing his family’s allegations that Pooja and Abhishek had personal relations. Speaking to The Indian Express, Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP), Aligarh, Neeraj Kumar Jadaun, said: “The family has claimed that he had left her and opened a TVS bike showroom a month ago in Khair. She unsuccessfully tried to implicate him in false cases. She also tried to video call him, but he had blocked her. So, she allegedly hired two shooters for Rs 3 lakh to kill him.” He said Pooja had been absconding since the murder, and police had announced a bounty of Rs 50,000. “She was brought from Bharatpur to Aligarh last night. She was presented before the court on Saturday. Soon, a chargesheet will be filed against all four accused,” he said. Pooja and her husband were arrested in 2019 for allegedly recreating the assassination of Mahatma Gandhi on his death anniversary and honouring Nathuram Godse. Jadaun, who was the Additional Superintendent of Police at the time, had led the arrest of 11 people in the case. “Abhishek was also arrested in that case,” he said. Abhishek was killed on the evening of September 26 this year, when he was heading to his family home in Hathras’s Kachora village to see his niece, who was born 20 days ago. His father, Neeraj, and cousin, Shivang, were with him. Abhishek usually travelled in a rented SUV in and around the city. His father, Neeraj, said, “We were waiting for his vehicle to come. But then I saw a bus at Khaireshwar roundabout, which would take us to Hathras, and I suggested we take it.” “Shivang and I got in when we heard a loud sound. When I turned around, Shivang told me someone had shot Abhishek. I rushed to my son. there was a wound below his left eye. I shook him, but he was no more,” said Neeraj. In his complaint to the police, Abhishek’s younger brother, Ashish Gupta, alleged, “Abhishek was stopped by two men on a bike. They fired at him and fled the scene. He was fatally wounded in the head and instantly died on the spot.” The family had alleged that Pooja and Ashok were behind the killing. Earlier, SP Pathak had said the police arrested Pandey and Fazal. The latter had been employed at the couple’s house since 2016. “We have found that a deal was allegedly struck for Rs 3 lakh, of which Rs 1 lakh was already paid,” SP Pathak said. Asif was arrested last week, said police. According to officers, Pooja claimed during questioning that she had divorced her husband. She later joined the Niranjani Akhara and took on the title of 'Mahamandleshwar (spiritual leader)’. ‘She was blackmailing my son’ Abhishek’s family had known Pooja for a few years. Her father lived in the same lane as them in Hathras. Speaking to The Indian Express, Ashish claimed, “Pooja’s father was a professor at a college in Delhi University. he used to guide a lot of students. In 2017, Abhishek had just finished Class X and wanted to study further, but he had not scored good marks. My family met Pooja’s father and sought his help.” “Abhishek was 17 then. Pooja’s father suggested he study in Aligarh. So, my brother moved there and stayed with Pooja and her husband,” he said. According to his family, Abhishek finished school and completed his BBA and MBA from Galaxy Global College in Ambala through a distance learning programme. His mother, Anshu Gupta, claimed the family offered financial help to Pooja. “Since my son lived with her, we would give her any amount she asked for. But she never returned a penny and kept asking for more,” she alleged. Anshu also claimed her son’s behaviour had changed. “Initially, he would avoid coming home. I didn’t see him at all in 2020-2021. When he started coming home again, he would always be on a video call with her (Pooja). He would never talk to her in front of me. I also noticed her calling him at night,” she claimed. “Last year, we pressed him to get married, but he refused. He told me he wanted to set up a business, so we agreed. But at our younger son’s wedding, we saw them (Abhishek and Pooja) wearing matching clothes and dancing,” she claimed. She said she confronted her son a few months ago. “He said Pooja had been blackmailing him to marry her. He was trying to cut all ties with her,” Anshu claimed. On August 21, the family said, Abhishek opened a bike showroom in the area, and Pooja allegedly demanded a share in the business. The Aligarh Police have lodged an FIR under sections 103(1) (murder), 61(2) (criminal conspiracy) and 351(3) (criminal intimidation) of the BNS.
