Pearland Indo-American Store Clerk Charged with Soliciting Murder
Rajesh Bakshi, 54, faces four charges of soliciting capital murder.
By Jawahar Malhotra
PEARLAND: It was a bizarre case or spurned affection that ended with Rajesh Bakshi being arrested and charged with soliciting a hit man to kill his former girlfriend and three other people. Only he did not realize that the hit-man was actually an undercover Houston police officer who he handed over a $1,500 down payment to for the contract killing.
“This operation saved lives in a very sensitive situation,” District Attorney Kim Ogg said. “Imagine how bad this could have been had it not been uncovered before it got to a real hitman.”
Pearland resident Rajesh Bakshi, 54, was arrested on Tuesday, April 17 after he allegedly paid the police officer to the money and photos of the three people he wanted to have killed: his ex-girlfriend, her current boyfriend and her parents. He went over their schedules and patterns of daily life, made suggestions how they could be killed, provided photos, asked for cocaine powder to be sprinkled over their bodies and asked for photos of the victims after they had been killed. Bakshi had $13,000 in cash on him when he was arrested.
According to a report by the Harris County District Attorney’s office, Bakshi has a wife, twin daughters and a teenage son and works as a convenience store clerk at the Dixie corner Store earning $1,400 a month and lives with relatives. He had dated the girlfriend for some time before she broke it off but then started a pattern of harassment for months and was allegedly violent with her, according to court papers. After continuing to be rejected, he sought to have the girlfriend, her parents, and her new boyfriend (whose identities have not been revealed) shot and killed, the court documents said.
Bakshi made his first appearance in court on April 19 and was charged with four counts of solicitation of capital murder, and faces life in prison if convicted. The judge set bail for $150,000 for each count and mandated that should he make bail, Bakshi, who is an Indian citizen, must surrender all travel documents.