Four held in Delhi MLA's shooting

New Delhi, June 3 (IANS) Four people have been arrested in connection with the shooting of Delhi legislator Bharat Singh, police said Sunday.

Vikas Dagar, 28, Kuldeep Mittal, 26, Sumeet Singh, 28, and Virendrer Sehrawat, 23, were arrested Saturday evening from Kishangarh in south Delhi, police said.

Bharat Singh, 35, was Saturday shot in his office in Najafgarh's Sarangpur village allegedly by these four youths. The legislator's uncle, Dharampal, was also injured.

Bharat Singh, elected from Najafgarh, took a bullet on his left shoulder and another in his abdomen. The bleeding man was rushed to the Mata Chanan Devi Hospital at Janakpuri and operated upon. He is now out of danger.

"It was Dagar and his family's personal rivalry with the legislator that led Dagar, along with his three friends, to attack the legislator," Delhi Police Commissioner B.K. Gupta told reporters here.

Gupta said the accused were "novices" and had used new weapons in the commission of the crime.

He said they had done a recce of the area of Bharat Singh's office, located in Najafgarh in southwest Delhi. "They kept observing the movements of Bharat Singh, who used to come to his office between 8 a.m. and 10 a.m."

Dagar's aunt and her husband suffered a huge loss in a village fund they established last year. The members who invested money in the fund approached the MLA to help him recover their money. Bharat Singh called Dagar's relatives and asked them to return money.

"This was not liked by Dagar and his family members. In June 2011, Dagar slapped Bharat Singh during his visit to village. This matter was not reported by Bharat Singh MLA to the police. However, the matter was defused with the intervention of elders," Gupta said.

"Fearing that MLA might attack him, Dagar decided to eliminate Bharat Singh as a preemptive move," he said.

Police ruled out the possibility of involvement of any gang in the case.