2 held in connection with murder of BJP leader in UP's Baghpat

Baghpat: Two people were arrested on Wednesday in connection with the murder of a local BJP leader in Baghpat district of Uttar Pradesh, police said. Sanjay Khokhar (52), former district unit president of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), was out for a morning walk on Tuesday when he was shot dead.

Police on the complaint lodged by Manish, son of the BJP leader, registered a case of murder against Nitin Dhankar, Mayank Dagar, Vineet, Ankush Sharma and an unknown person on Tuesday.

Superintendent of Police of Baghpat Ajay Kumar Singh on Wednesday said, "Mayank Dagar and Ankush Sharma, who were named accused in the murder of Sanjay Khokhar have been arrested. They are in the age group of 25-26 years. A countrymade pistol has been recovered from them."

"During interrogation, they said that a fight with Sanjay Khokhar's son (Akshay) in 2018 and enmity led to the incident," he added.

According to police, a case was registered against Akshay, Vikas, Vineet, Gaurav and Dhankar in 2018 following a dispute in which Vikas got injured.

"Sanjay Khokhar used his clout to get a clean chit for his son in the case. However, the others could not get," he said.

Police has formed five teams to crack the case, the SP said, adding that police force has been deployed at the residence of Khokhar, where people from different walks of life are coming to pay their tributes.

Reacting to the incident, Baghpat MP Satya Pal Singh said, "For the past two years, I have been saying that there is a 'bharmaar' (abundance) of illegal arms in this area."

"A campaign should be run to identify the people having the arms. Action should be initiated against 'gundas' and criminals irrespective of their political affiliations," he added.

On Tuesday, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath condoled Khokhar's death and directed officials to take action against the guilty within 24 hours.

An FIR was registered at the Chhaprauli Police Station in Baghpat and its station house officer (SHO) was suspended.

In a late night reshuffle, the state government transferred Baghpat's Additional SP Aneet Kumar. Manish Mishra, currently SP City Ghaziabad, will replace Kumar immediately, an official order stated.

Khokhar was the district president of the BJP for three years and was removed from the post before the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.