JOIN USNamdhari's PSO may be held soon
As the probe into the gunfight between liquor baron Ponty Chadha and his brother Hardeep Chadha — in which both were killed — is moving ahead, police have found the presence of Uttarakhand minority commission chairman Sukhdev Singh Namdhari and his personal security officer Sachin Tyagi firing at Hardeep ‘suspicious’. Sources said Tyagi might be arrested.
After the incident, Namdhari narrated the whole incident to police and filed an FIR explaining that his PSO fired at Hardeep as there was immediate threat to his life.
But the investigators found some ‘circumstantial evidence’ contrary to Namdhari’s narration, and there were differences in statements by Namdhari and Tyagi.
Vivek Gogia, joint commissioner of police (south-west) refused to comment on the issue
and said they are still “investigating into the matter”.
When asked whether the statement given by Namdhari was the actual sequence of event, he said Namdhari is just an “informant of the incident”.
“Namdhari has given us his version. We are verifying it. It is subject to investigation,” Gogia said.
In his statement to police, Namdhari said he had met Ponty at his residence at 21 DLF Oak Drive farmhouse in Chattarpur around 9.30 am on Saturday.
“Around noon, we went to Ponty’s 42 DLF Central Drive farmhouse in his Toyota Land Cruiser car. Ponty’s secretary Narender was following us in another car,” Namdhari said in his statement.
He claimed that the main gate of the farmhouse was found locked from outside after which Narender asked staff present inside to get the key.
“Narender was just opening the gate when Hardeep arrived there with his personal security officers and several armed men in separate cars,” Namdhari added.
Namdhari alleged that Hardeep immediately shot at Narender without saying a word and came towards Ponty’s car. Hardeep allegedly started abusing Ponty when they faced each other.
“Hardeep went on to open fire at Ponty after a heated argument. He also shot at me twice, but I managed to escape unhurt,” Namdhari said.
Seeing the attack, Namdhari’s personal security officer Tyagi fired at Hardeep.
Namdhari told police that Hardeep went inside the farmhouse when the crossfire began. Meanwhile, Namdhari along with Ponty’s driver rushed Ponty to Fortis Hospital.
Suspicion in roles played
Police find Namdhari’s statement suspicious as Tyagi did not leave for the hospital but chased Hardeep and shot him dead. Tyagi’s role is also ‘suspicious’.
Forensic and ballistics experts, and doctors on Tuesday reached the spot and tried to recreate the whole sequence.
After getting the reports from various investigative agencies, they will come to know the exact role played by Tyagi in the gunfight.
However, so far both Namdhari and Tyagi are under suspicion.