Once a Delhi Police constable, said to have role in don Hasanpuriya’s death

Ghaziabad: BJP leader Brijpal Teotia’s life story is part of UP police investigation into the shootout that left Teotia critically injured on Thursday.

His old personal enmities are under the lens as police are trying to trace all background information on the BJP leader who lives with his family in a bungalow in Kavi Nagar, Ghaziabad, to ascertain the reason behind the attack on him.

Teotia had contested the UP state assembly elections in 2012 on a BJP ticket from the Murad Nagar constituency of Ghaziabad and lost.

Locals in Ghaziabad recall that Teotia, whose family belongs to Mehruali village off NH-24, once used to work as a constable with Delhi Police.

However, Teotia’s career veered towards politics after the murder case of another Delhi police constable, Suresh Diwan, in 1996. Diwan was also from Mehrauli village. Teotia was widely perceived to have had a hand in Diwan’s murder, the exact reasons behind which are not very clear.

Prominent political figures from Ghaziabad are known to be close to Teotia. Sources said Teotia has been close to Ramesh Chandra Tomar, who had dramatically switched over to the BJP ahead of the 2014 general elections after he was nominated from GB Nagar as the Congress candidate. Teotia is also said to be close to former BJP MLA Nand Sisodiya.

Teotia was elected to the Ghaziabad Municipal Corporation as a councillor from Mehrauli after the village was included within the civic body limits. The first time he was elected on a BJP ticket but he was re-elected the second time on a ticket from the Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD).

Teotia had contested the UP assembly elections of 2007 too on a ticket from the RLD and lost after securing about 14,000 votes.

Police investigations are under way to determine if the shootout that injured Teotia on Thursday was the result of an encounter in the year 2010 in which a western UP gangster, Rakesh Hasanpuriya, had been killed. Sources said Teotia was the main police informer that led to the encounter resulting in Hasanpuriya’s death.

Hasanpuriya’s family, which derives its name from their native Hasanpur village of Ghaziabad, had opposed Teotia during his election campaign in 2012.

According to sources, Teotia also had some disputes over property ownership rights in Kavi Nagar.