Police zero in on Manoj Dewan, Teotia remains critical

GHAZIABAD: Three days after BJP leader

Brijpal Teotia

was critically injured after he was attacked by AK-47 wielding assailants, senior UP police officers said on Sunday that investigations are gradually zeroing in upon Manoj Dewan. Officials said Manoj, who is from Mehrauli village in Ghaziabad, could be the ‘key figure’ behind orchestrating the attack with the help of a history-sheeter from Haryana or western UP.

Manoj is the nephew of one Sandeep Dewan, a police constable, who had been murdered in Mehrauli several years ago. Teotia, who also belongs to Mehrauli, was suspected to have had a role in Sandeep’s murder due to a property dispute. Police sources said Manoj’s close aide, Sansar Singh, has been taken into custody for allegedly having supplied weapons to Teotia’s attackers.

UP police have deployed around 300 cops from several districts of Meerut range for investigations.

SSP KS Emmanuel told TOI, “So far, we haven’t been able to trace the second Fortuner that was allegedly used in the attack on Teotia. Investigations so far point towards only one Fortuner, which was retrieved from Niwadi. We have certain concrete leads into the case and expect to crack it soon.”

However, city police have not completely ruled out the involvement of a second Fortuner and are relying on eyewitnesses. On Sunday evening, UP police picked up eight more people from Akhtiyarpur village in Meerut for questioning.

Teotia continued to remain under treatment in the ICU of Fortis Hospital in Sector 62, Noida on Sunday. His family members told TOI that doctors are yet to take a call on when he can be discharged from hospital.

“There has been continuous improvement in Brijpal Teotia’s health condition over the past three days. Doctors have told us that his health has showed positive signs. He is still under life support. However, we haven’t perceived any tangible action to have been taken by the police so far against the attackers,” said a close aide of Teotia.

Three victims of the attack, gunmen Vipin Singh and Mohkam Singh Malik, as well as Teotia’s close aide, Indrapal Singh, were discharged from the Sarvodaya Hospital on Sunday.

“Mohkam has a bullet lodged in his head in the region of his left eye. It’s located near the optic nerve and we refrained from trying to weed it out since the patient may risk losing his eyesight forever. All three patients were discharged after their health condition was found stable,” Dr Amit Goel, administrative officer of Sarvodaya Hospital, said.