Bharadwaj murder: Police on lookout for 'spiritual guru'

, Apr 3: Delhi Police have launched a manhunt in Haryana and Uttarakhand for a "spiritual guru" who is suspected to be behind the murder of local

leader Deepak Bhardwaj allegedly over a land dispute.

Investigators are also on the look out for another associate, believed to be a commercial pilot, of the spiritual guru who is said to have approached alleged shooters -- Purushottam Rana and Sunil Mann -- with the contract to kill Bhardwaj, the richest candidate in the 2009 Lok Sabha polls.

The role of these two men came up during the interrogation of Rana and Mann, who allegedly murdered Bhardwaj in his south Delhi farmhouse on March 26. Rana and Mann were arrested two days ago for their suspected involvement in the killing of Bhardwaj. Amit, who allegedly drove the car in which the shooters fled, and the owner of the vehicle, were also arrested.

Though the motive is yet to be clear as the main conspirators have not been nabbed, police suspect that property or money could be the reason behind the murder of Bhardwaj. The sources claimed that during interrogation, the alleged shooters had given contradictory details about those who gave them the contract to kill Bhardwaj.

Investigators have not given clean chit to anyone in the case and had even questioned the victim's family -- wife and his two sons -- who were living separately due to differences with Bhardwaj, a real estate tycoon who owned educational institutions.

PTI