Identifying the son as Nikesh Gupta (29), the police said that the spice trader was shot dead while he was on a morning walk in Priyadarshani Vihar.
The incident had come to light on January 11, 2008, when Nikesh, a resident of CC Colony in Model Town, filed a complaint with the local police stating that his father had not returned from his morning walk. Soon after, the neighbourhood milkman reportedly saw Gupta lying on a road near Highway No 91, in the vicinity of the Priyadarshini Vihar Market.
Nikesh and his stepmother rushed to the spot and found Gupta's body lying in a pool of blood. Though they took him to the Hindu Rao Hospital, the spice trader was declared brought dead. A case of murder was registered with the Model Town police.
Acting on a tip-off, the police reached a paan shop, Chourasiya Pan Bhandar, at Kalyan Vihar, where they had learnt that few suspects would gather, on December 7. Upon being questioned, the gang members revealed that they had assembled at the spot to evict a tenant from a flat owned by Nikesh in Shalimar Bagh. Further grilling revealed that they had murdered Gupta two years ago, police said.
"It was a dead-end case. We were lucky to have nabbed the five accused," said Deputy Commissioner of Police (Crime) Ashok Chand.
The contract killers allegedly employed by Nikesh were identified as Lalit Yadav (22), Lal Bahadur (40), Gaurav Kumar (23) and Mohad Adil (23). Another accomplice, Rakesh Kumar, had died in a pitched battle between two gangs at Rohtak in Haryana last year.
When interrogated, Nikesh disclosed that he held a grudge against his father, who used to allegedly ill-treat him. According to the police, Nikesh hired the contract killers for Rs 10 lakh. While Rs 6 lakh was handed over to Lalit, the rest of the amount was deposited with Lal Bahadur. They had then decided to murder Gupta while he was out for his morning walk.
The accused have been charged with murder and conspiracy to murder.
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