Ponty shootout: Cops concludes arguments on charges against 22

Delhi Police has concluded arguments on charges against SS Namdhari and 21 others in connection with the killing of liquor baron Ponty Chadha and his brother Hardeep, claiming all the accused were part of a "conspiracy to kill".

New Delhi: Delhi Police has concluded arguments on charges against sacked Uttarakhand minorities panel chief S S Namdhari and 21 others in connection with the killing of liquor baron Ponty Chadha and his brother Hardeep, claiming all the accused were part of a "conspiracy to kill".

However, Namdhari has refuted all the allegation of the investigating agency before Additional Sessions Judge Vimal Kumar Yadav and said he is "innocent" and has been "falsely implicated". After Delhi Police Crime Branch concluded its argument, Namdhari`s counsel R S Malik began his submissions, saying there is no legal evidence against his client and the accused has no connection with the bullets recovered from the spot or from the bodies of the deceased brothers. Malik also told the court that none of the co-accused has in their statement named Namdhari or referred to his involvement in the commission of the offence. Ponty and Hardeep, who allegedly had a property dispute, were killed in a shootout at a Chhattarpur farmhouse on November 17 last year. During the course of arguments, the prosecution informed the court that the two brothers were not on talking terms as there was property dispute between them. "The dispute was not resolved on November 16, 2012 night, so the planning was to take away the property by any means, in which the two brothers were killed," the prosecution said. The prosecution narrated the sequence of events leading to the final act of murder and said Ponty and Namdhari had conspired to take over the farmhouse from Hardeep`s possession. It said Hardeep had arrived at the scene and when Ponty`s men were opening the gate of the disputed property, Hardeep fired at him and also at Ponty, and in return Namdhari and his PSO Sachin Tyagi shot him. The prosecution further argued that the accused arrested in the case are Ponty and Hardeep`s men, which is established from the CCTV footage produced before the court. Countering the prosecution claim, Namdhari`s counsel said as per the investigator`s report, Hardeep fired eight bullets out of which seven were found in Ponty`s body and one from other arrested co-accused -- Narender Alahawat, who was shot in the leg during the shoot-out. The counsel further said Hardeep is the main accused and he used deadly weapons. "No arms was recovered from Namdhari`s possession," the counsel said. "If Namdhari`s PSO -- Sachin Tyagi fired at anyone that was in his self defence and not with an intention to kill anyone," Malik submitted, adding that the case is false. The police had filed three charge-sheets against Ponty, Namdhari and his PSO Sachin Tyagi, booking them for murder and offences under various provisions of the IPC. Altogether 22 others were charge-sheeted for offences including attempt to murder, causing grievous harm, dacoity, rioting with deadly weapons, house trespass, kidnapping and illegally confinement and destruction of evidence. However, trial against Ponty and Hardeep has been abated as they both died in the shoot-out. The charges of criminal conspiracy, common intention and those under the Arms Act were also imposed on all the 22 accused, including Ponty, for trying to take over the disputed farmhouse from the possession of Hardeep. The first charge-sheet had named Ponty as an accused, as he had reached the place of incident with Namdhari and others as part of his "well-hatched conspiracy" to take possession of the south Delhi farm house. The second supplementary accused Hardeep in the case, saying the probe has revealed that Ponty was killed due to the shot fired at him by his brother. The police, in its charge-sheet, has mentioned the sequence of events about the incident, saying Ponty and Namdhari had conspired to take over the farm house from the possession of Hardeep.