Yet the police can’t crack the murder case

So, over the past five months the police questioned Bhola as many times as they could. And still, they haven’t found any evidence to suggest that he had visited Bhardwaj that day. There was no sign of forced entry, nothing was stolen. Neighbours don’t recall spotting a stranger. The police concluded it had to be an acquaintance(s) seeking revenge.

Yet, during this period they have ruled out that the possibility that Bhardwaj’s past as a RAW officer got back to him on October 7. And they’re not willing to reveal why, citing the secrecy of the investigations.

The police have also not made much headway regarding a city-based property dealer’s possible role. A few months before his murder, Bhardwaj had paid a lot of money to the property dealer. The transaction was never completed.

On October 7, Bhardwaj was alone in the his house between 5 p.m., when neighbours last saw him, and 9 p.m., when his eldest son, Dinesh found his body. The RAW officer’s wife had died four years ago, his eldest and youngest sons were away at work and his second son was in Chandigarh. The police, however, don’t know whether they can ever nail Bhola. They do not have sufficient evidence against him, though they claim he had the “best reason” to kill Bhardwaj. And the “best reason”: Bhola had built a house on a plot of land in Sangam Vihar owned by Bhardwaj without informing him. Bhardwaj had reportedly asked him to vacate the land, a day before he was killed.

Bhola says he visited Bhardwaj on the day before his murder to repair a portion of the underground water tank. “If I had killed Bhardwaj, I would have gone into hiding. I have cooperated with the police. They are harassing me,” he says.

He adds that he built the house on the plot of the land in Sangam Vihar because he bought half of it from Bhardwaj whom he had known for years. To substantiate his claim he furnished a document showing that the land had been transferred in his name.

“It looked alright except for the signature,” says SHO (Okhla) M.K. Malhotra. “But it had been signed in Hindi. And Bhardwaj’s sons say he never signed in Hindi.”

Investigators found an old letter written in Hindi by Bhardwaj to a relative. “The letter bears Bhardwaj’s signature, but it does not resemble the one on Bhola’s land-purchase document. Experts have agreed,” says Malhotra. But this, he adds, is not sufficient evidence to arrest Bhola. Investigators, however, continue to question him.