The Delhi Police searched the premises of spiritual guru Swami Pratimanand -- who is suspected to have hired shooters to kill BSP leader Deepak Bhardwaj last week -- in Uttarakhand's Haridwar district on Wednesday.

However, according to police sources, the swami managed to flee just hours before the raid on his ashram. The police were grilling the guru's followers at the ashram to find out his possible links in Bharadwaj's murder .