Court extends judicial custody of Ponty's men

The judicial custody of seven accused named in a chargesheet for their alleged roles in the killings of liquor baron Ponty Chadha and his younger brother Hardeep was on Friday extended by a court by 14 days.

Chief metropolitan magistrate Raj Kumar Tripathi remanded the accused to custody till April 11 after they were produced before him on expiry of their earlier
custody.

Satnam Singh, Balkar Singh, Baaj Singh, Pargat Singh, Kulbir Singh, Bakshish Singh and Hardayal Singh were named in the chargesheet with sacked Uttarakhand minorities panel chief S S Namdhari and 13 others for the November 17 last year killings in Ponty’s farmhouse in south Delhi.

After absconding for over three months, the seven men, all from Namdhari’s group, had surrendered on March 7.

 The court had earlier issued non-bailable warrants against them and two others, who still remain untraceable.

It had on December 28, 2012 ordered initiation of proceedings under section 82 of the Criminal Procedure Code to declare them as proclaimed offenders.

Delhi Police crime branch officials told the court that on the basis of information gathered during custodial interrogation of the seven accused, it has recovered guns and vehicles used by them during the commission of the crime.

It added that the supplementary chargesheet will be filed against the accused soon.
Ponty and Hardeep, who were allegedly embroiled in a property dispute, were killed in the shootout at the Chhattarpur farmhouse.