Wanted in cheating cases, shot dead in a Delhi restaurant: Who is Manoj Vashishtha

The death of Manoj Vashishtha in a Delhi restaurant after a scuffle with police officials is now the subject of a multiple probes as authorities attempt to decipher whether the law enforcement officials were acting in self defence or whether it was an extra-judicial killing. However, details of Vashishtha remain sketchy with his wife claiming he was a social worker but the police saying that he was wanted in multiple cases of cheating and fraud. “Vashishtha was a wanted criminal and carried a reward on his head,” a senior official had said after he was shot in the Delhi restaurant. [caption id=“attachment_2253730” align=“alignleft” width=“380” class=" “]  Manoj Vashishtha with UP Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav. Image courtesy: Facebook[/caption] However, according to a report in The Indian Express, Vashishtha hails from Bhagpat in Uttar Pradesh and had set up many companies under the banner of RCS Group, which is accused of duping several people in real estate related cases. The report said that Vashishtha liked to travel in big cars with bodyguards and wasn’t averse to using strong arm tactics to intimidate disgruntled customers.   The police had seven cases of fraud registered against Vashishtha in connection with real estate cases. Vashishtha’s wife Priyanka, a panchayat member from Baghpat in Uttar Pradesh, told The Hindustan Times there were a few cheating cases against him. His family said that Vashishtha was a social worker and ran an NGO called Deshbhakti Sena Trust. Vashishtha also has a Facebook page which suggests that completely negates the police’s theories of him being on the run. His profile has several photos of him attending social functions, some of which show him addressing a gathering, others with high-profile politicians such as Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav, Union Minister Nitin Gadkari and BJP MP Udit Raj. He also has photos of trips to Africa and Goa in which he is seen posing for photos and his last post was on 22 April about the AAP rally in which a farmer hanged himself. Vashishtha was off the social networking site after that post and little is known about what he did after that. His wife said that he was being targeted by the Delhi Police Special Cell officials who were attempting to extort money from him. He even sought anticipatory bail from a court but was told that there was no case against him with the department. Following that his plea was dismissed.