Namdhari's PSO may turn approver for cops

The personal security officer of sacked Uttarakhand Minorities Commission chairman Sukhdev Singh Namdhari is likely to be made a police approver in the double murder case of Ponty Chadha and his brother Hardeep, sources said on Saturday.

Sachin Tyagi was initially detained in connection with the November 17 shootout at a farmhouse in south Delhi’s Chattarpur, but was released on November 24. Namdhari had initially told police that Tyagi had shot at Hardeep in self defence. However, after interrogating Namdhari and recreating the sequence, police believe that he killed Hardeep.

Sources said investigation so far points at Namdhari’s role as the main conspirator of the entire shoot-out. Since the probe is almost complete and sequence of events also established, it is necessary to be prepared with evidence and approvers.

“It is learnt that Tyagi was cooperating well with investigating officers and won their faith in his statement after which sleuths have almost decided to make him approver against Namdhari in court. Police are now waiting for the ballistic report to seal their theory,” a source said.

The huge unaccounted money and property at stake, police believe, was the motive behind the murder. They also believe that Hardeep started firing and Namdhari ended it. “In the crossfire, Namdhari quickly grabbed the opportunity and killed Hardeep so that he remained the only claimant of the unaccounted money and property the three of them knew about,” a police official said.

Meanwhile, a Delhi Police team conducted fresh raids at Namdhari’s farmhouse at Bajpur in Uttarakhand on Saturday. The investigators, after getting extension of three days of Namdhari’s police custody on Friday, took him to his farmhouse to search two missing bullets.

Police booked Namdhari for murder on Friday and told the Saket court that cartridges of two bullets, which were shot on Hardeep, were missing from the spot and need to be found. “We are scrutinising the call data records of his mobile phone. The missing cartridges are yet to be recovered. Final ballistic reports will be crucial to determine the results,” a police official added.

Namdhari had a .30 calibre pistol with 10 bullets in the magazine, but police have recovered only eight cartridges so far. Police said Namdhari has not given satisfactory answer when asked about the two missing cartridges.