Lucknow: West UP don Badan Singh Baddo had given Rs 50-lakh contract to kill gangster Sanjeev Maheshwari a.k.a Jeeva, who was shot inside a Lucknow court premises on June 7, according to the charge sheet filed by the police.
The charge sheet was filed on Saturday. Maheshwari was an associate of Mukhtar Ansari.
Almost three months after Vijay Yadav, posing as an advocate, opened six rounds of fire at Maheshwari, who had been brought for a hearing at a lower court in Lucknow, the three-member SIT, in its charge sheet, found that fugitive don Baddo got Maheshwari eliminated.
SIT, formed to probe the sensational murder, was headed by then additional DG, (technical services) Mohit Agarwal. Senior officials said charges of IPC 302 (murder), IPC 307 (attempt to murder), IPC 332 (causing hurt to public servant), 120 B (criminal conspiracy) and other sections of Arms Act were slapped on the accused Vijay Yadav, who was caught red-handed by cops and lawyers and handed over to the police.
A senior official who conducted the probe said that it surfaced during assailant Yadav’s interrogation and surveillance that Maheshwari and Baddo were at the loggerheads over supremacy in the West UP region.
Maheshwari had also given an application in the court for exemption from personal appearance in cases against him in Muzaffarnagar.
“When Vijay Yadav was interrogated, he disclosed that during his visit to Nepal, one Aslam had arranged his meeting with Baddo,” says the police chargesheet.
Badan had categorically told Yadav that Sanjeev was causing a lot of problems for him and his business in west UP and offered him Rs 50 lakh for eliminating him. Following this, Vijay had agreed to kill Jeeva, the charge sheet adds. Jeeva had 24 criminal cases against him and was recognised as the leader of ‘Inter State (IS) Gang 01’ in 2019 which had 10 active members and 26 individuals who actively sheltered and harboured him.
Out of 24 cases against him, he had been acquitted in 17.
Baddo, 48, carries Rs 5 lakh reward on his head and has more than 30 cases of murder, loot, robbery, and extortion lodged against him at various police stations in Meerut and adjoining districts. He was serving life sentence for a murder committed by him in 1996.
In March 2019, he escaped from police custody after spiking sweets given to half a dozen police personnel guarding him while he was being taken from a Ghaziabad court to Fatehgarh jail in Farrukhabad after a court appearance.
The gangster, known for his tuxedos, designer shades, Swiss watches and luxury vehicles, owns a palatial house in Meerut and is said to be hiding in Australia where his wife and daughter are already settled.
On June 7, 2023, Vijay Yadav, posing as an advocate, had opened six rounds of fire on Maheshwari who was brought for hearing in the courtroom. In the melee, 18-month-old Laxmi, and her mother Neelam sustained injuries.
A police sub-inspector Utkarsh Tripathi, and head constables Lal Mohammed and Kamlesh Kumar also sustained injuries but along with the help of lawyers, they pinned down Yadav.
_IANS
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