NEW DELHI: There could be more personal and local reasons to the murder of key Hindu terror accused Sunil Joshi than the larger motive of protecting the saffron module from being exposed.
Investigations into the December 2007 murder case by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) have found that a liquor shop on Indore-Dewas road in Madhya Pradesh had become a bone of contention among saffron terror accused with many of them, including Joshi, having stakes in it.
Until now, investigating agencies, including Madhya Pradesh Police, which has filed a chargesheet in the case against the 2008 Malegaon blast accused Pragya Singh Thakur, have maintained that Joshi was killed because the group suspected he could spill the beans on saffron terror module. Another reason cited was that Joshi had misbehaved with Thakur in a manner that had angered the group.
It has now been revealed, however, that Joshi and his confidante Lokesh Sharma, accused in Samjhauta Express and 2006 Malegaon blasts, were partners in a liquor shop in Dakachya village on Indore-Dewas road. There were others in the group too who had stakes in the shop that was reportedly very profitable.
Sources say, during 2006-07, a dispute arose among the group on profit sharing and led to animosity between Joshi and others in the group. In fact, Joshi and others had even stopped talking months before he was shot dead in Dewas on December 29, 2007.
After NIA arrested Rajender Chaudhary last month in connection with the Samjhauta Express blast he revealed that it was him and Lokesh Sharma who had bumped off Joshi. Madhya Pradesh Police had chargesheeted an entirely different set of people for the murder.
Last Monday, NIA made the first arrest in connection with the case, when it picked up one Balbir Singh from Mandalwada village in Indore. Balbir, too, has been found to be linked to the liquor shop through one Jitendra Patel, a close aide of Joshi who died of cancer last year. Patel, who hails from Dakachya and had a partnership in the liquor shop, was associated with Singh.
NIA sources said, they had conducted raids on the residences of both Singh and Jitendra Patel and recovered a 9 mm pistol magazine from the former's house. "We suspect that this magazine may belong to the pistol that was used to kill Joshi. However, things will be clear only after forensic examination," said an NIA official.
Tiff over liquour shop stake led to Hindu terror accused Joshi’s murder?
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Tiff over liquour shop stake led to Hindu terror accused Joshi’s murder?
