GREATER NOIDA: Bhupendra Momnathal, son of the biggest sand mining racketeer in Gautam Budh Nagar, who has been under police lens for the past few months, has been identified as the key person behind the murder conspiracy against gangster Dharmendra alias Dharmi.Having arrested two main accused — Vivek and Gyanendra — on Wednesday night, the Noida STF has identified Bhupendra Momnathal—whose father remains in jail after his arrest and subsequent invoking of National Security Act against him—as the main conspirator in the murder case.Bhupendra is currently absconding while Vivek and Gyanendra were arrested from Mathurapur area in Dadri around 11.30 pm on Wednesday. However, the white Scorpio, owned by Vivek’s father in which the men had allegedly abducted Dharmi, is yet to be recovered.Bhupendra and his father Sanjay has been involved in illegal sand mining near Yamuna for over a decade. He was arrested in mid-July, but he got bail from a court within two hours of his arrest, even before the police could think of invoking NSA against him.With Bhupendra’s name now coming to the fore in the sensational murder case, the district police is of the view that it had missed a chance as he again indulged in criminal activities after getting the bail in July.“It was a lost chance. He could have been booked under NSA then and there. He has already built an empire of sorts in his Greater Noida village,” an officer said.It has come to the fore that Vivek is related to Bhupendra who in turn works for dreaded gangster Randeep Bhati and who apparently threatened Dharmi over phone through his men.Rajkumar Mishra, DSP, STF Noida, told TOI that Vivek is a relative of Bhupendra Momnathal whom he called after a bitter spat with Dharmi that followed a road rage that triggered the deceased’s abduction on Friday evening.Bhupendra in turn informed Randeep, who apparently called up Dharmi and asked him to mend his ways.Dharmi allegedly rebuffed Randeep which the latter considered as an “offence” to his influence.According to an officer, at the time of his death, Dharmi had apparently invoked his long-time association with Randeep Bhati’s father Brahmpal. “Dharmi had worked with Randeep’s father Brahmpal and had told his killers that he was in fact their man,” an officer said.Further, it has emerged that Randeep arranged some men through his brother-in-law Narendra alias Ninder who is based in Faridabad , who also arrived at the spot with others to orchestrate the murder.According to a statement from the Noida unit of STF, Bhupendra got accused Babli Nagar –a resident of Sadullahpur, and Ropi, a resident of Junpat, to make threat calls to Dharmi.As the matter grew, Bhupendra Momnathal, Babli, Ropi and Randeep’s brother-in-law Ninder arrived in a Fortuner and a Scorpio outside Dharmi’s house along with 8-10 other accused and picked up Dharmi.According to officers, some Haryana-based men are suspected to be among the accused as Ninder is based in Faridabad.SP (rural) Vineet Jaiswal said that Bhupendra could be booked under the NSA if his activities fit the serious criteria for the same. “NSA can only be invoked against someone who is already in jail. Currently, he is not in jail. Efforts are on to arrest him and the other accused,” he said.Dharmi was abducted in a car and shot dead, 20 minutes after he had received a call threatening to “teach you a lesson”. Earlier in the day, he had picked up a fight with a few youths.

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