Threat to life from Teotia led to assault on BJP leader, says main accused

MEERUT:

Sansar Singh

, a former national-level volleyball player and the main accused in the murder attempt by gunmen on BJP leader

Brijpal Teotia

in August alleged that there was a threat to his life from Teotia, which had forced him to plan the attack on the latter.

Teotia, 54, was attacked while travelling by car on

Rawli Road

off NH-58 on August 12 by assault rifle-wielding assailants.

Teotia

was shot five times and later taken to

Fortis Hospital

in Noida for treatment. Five others, including four private securitymen of Teotia, were also injured in the shooting.

Sansar Singh, main accused in the case, had been absconding ever since and the inspector-general of police had announced a bounty of Rs 15,000 on his head.

Late on Wednesday evening, a team of Shamli police arrested Singh near Titauli checkpost under the jurisdiction of Adarsh Mandi police station after an encounter, while he was travelling by car. During the encounter, three of his accomplices managed to flee while police nabbed Singh and recovered a pistol and ammunition.

Singh is a native of Chhur village under Sardhana block of Meerut district. Shamli circle officer Nishank Sharma, addressing the media, said Singh had been a national-level volleyball player and was wanted in numerous cases. “He became a criminal due to some personal enmities and is an accused of murdering two persons in his village,” Sharma said.

During the press conference, Singh claimed that his family and he faced a threat to their lives from Teotia, which is why they conspired to kill the BJP leader six months ago. “We finally got a chance to make an attempt on his life in August,” Singh said.

Teotia had earlier contested assembly elections on a BJP ticket from Modinagar but had lost.