LUCKNOW: The head of Vishwa Hindu Mahasabha was shot dead by two motorcycle-borne shooters in Lucknow’s Hazratganj area on Sunday morning. Ranjeet Bachchan, a resident of Gulharia in Gorakhpur district, was on a morning stroll along with his cousin Aditya Srivastava, when the attackers first tried to snatch Bachchans mobile and then fired at the duo near the Central Drug Research Institute (building, the police said.
This is the second killing of a Right-wing Hindu leader in Lucknow, after Kamlesh Tewari, the national president of the Hindu Samaj Party, was killed at his Khurshed Bagh residence in October last year. Sources claimed that Bachchan’s wife Kalindi Nirmal Sharma had also accompanied him on the morning walk but she took a different route as she could not match her husband’s pace.
Deputy Commissioner of Police (central Lucknow) Dinesh Singh said Bachchan, who was shot in the head, died on the spot while a critically injured Aditya was rushed to King George’s Medical University (KGMU) trauma centre. He is out of danger.
Lucknow Police Commissioner Sujit Pandey set up eight special teams to hit the trail of the absconding gunmen in Lucknow and the adjoining districts. Pandey suspended Parivartan Chowk Station House Officer Sandeep Tiwari under whose jurisdiction the incident took place.
The DCP also suspended three constables present in a Police Response Vehicle (PRV), a few yards away from the crime spot, for failure to respond to the shooting. An SI, a member of the investigation team, confirmed that the assailants tried to snatch Ranjeet Bachchan’s gold chain and cell phone during the attack.
However, this could have been a ploy of the assailants to make the crime look like a loot attempt, rather than a planned murder, he said. Bachchan’s wife Kalindi Sharma was also being interrogated by the police in connection with murder of her husband. The police have secured mobile phones of Bachchan and his cousin and are tracking their call record to ascertain the identity of the killers.
As per police sources, a family discord between Bachchan and his wife has also come to the light and it is also being considered in the investigation of the murder. “Forensic experts are scanning the spot and looking at CCTV footage. The culprits will be behind bars soon,” Singh said.
Sources said, Bachchan had been associated with the Samajwadi Party till he formed his own Vishwa Hindu Mahasabha. He had married twice. One of his wives is in Gorakhpur while the other is in Lucknow. He and his wife Kalindi Nirmal Sharma were active members of Samajwdi Party. The two had organised a cycle rally in 2009 and were felicitated by the party leadership.