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Journalism of Courage
Decades before Deepak Bhardwaj of New Delhi gained fame as one of the richest candidates to contest elections,he was known as Devi Singh Khati of Chetiya Olia village in Haryanas Sonepat district. The son of a carpenter,Bhardwaj left the village for Delhi in 1970,in search of wealth,power and fame,and never looked back.
When Bhardwaj was gunned down at his farmhouse in Delhi on March 26,his neighbours in this village,about 18 km from Sonepat,took a few days to realise that he was indeed Khati.
We all read the newspapers and watched TV channels which reported Bhardwajs murder,but did not know who it was. We realised it was actually Devi Singh after a photograph was carried in a local newspaper, said Prakash Singh,who now lives in Bhardwajs ancestral house.
It was not just Bhardwajs murder that surprised many in the village. The reports of his wealth were equally surprising. In the 2009 elections,Bhardwaj,who contested on a BSP ticket,had declared total assets valued at Rs 603 crore.
We knew he was a successful businessman,but never realised how successful he was. Are the newspaper reports true? Did he really own a palace in Delhi? asked Sube Singh Gurjjar,who was Bhardwajs classmate at the government school here till class 5.
According to Prakash Singh,two of Bhardwajs brothers,Inder,a retired bank employee,and Rajpal,a bus conductor in Delhi,rushed to Bhardwajs farmhouse after the murder. His third brother,Satbir,is an ex-army serviceman who now works in the military canteen in Rohtak, he said.
Bhardwajs father,Prithvi Singh Khati,was the village carpenter for over 30 years,till he died seven years ago.
Bhardwaj always wanted to leave the village for Sonepat or Delhi. When he found a job and wrote home,he had changed his name to Deepak Bhardwaj. We dont know why, said Mahant Dayal Das,the priest of a local temple near the village.
Prithvi Singh was well respected in the village,so much so,that a house was gifted to him by all the residents in Chetiya Oliya. When his father died,Bhardwaj came for the cremation,but refused to build a memorial,as is the custom here, said Dayal. He added that many villagers had not forgiven Bhardwaj for this transgression.
Gurjjar,who worked as a conductor with the Delhi Transport Corporation,said Bhardwaj was never interested in either the family business or in Chetiya Oliya. Even when we were young,Bhardwaj dreamt of becoming very rich one day. We used to meet in Delhi regularly,but one day he stopped talking to all of us, said Gurjjar. He added that Bhardwaj rarely visited his village after establishing his own real estate business.
