The Chandigarh police today finally re-arrested Vikas Barala, the accused son of Haryana BJP president, and his accomplice after they were charged with attempted abduction in the high profile Varnika Kundu stalking case. The arrest and pressing of fresh charges against the accused came five days after the incident that arguably exposed the ‘shoddy’ investigation by the cops in an alleged attempt to protect the politician's son.
The bail earlier granted to the accused was cancelled. The two accused were taken into custody. Their interrogation continued for long inside the police station. The new IPC sections (365 and 511) added against the accused are non-bailable which means that the VIP accused law graduate Vikas will have to go to jail. The charges attract a maximum punishment of 7-years, Punjab and Haryana High Court advocate Mohit Garg told Deccan Herald.
Chandigarh DGP TS Luthra said the accused will be presented before the Court tomorrow. He said the police will seek their police remand which is necessary to corroborate evidence they have gathered so far in the case. Victim Varnika, daughter of senior bureaucrat VS Kundu, reacted saying its a great development, but just the beginning of the process to justice.
Earlier in the day, the police pasted summons outside his house directing Vikas to appear before the police at 11 am on Wednesday. Nearly three hours later, Vikas and the other accused Ashish drove in an SUV to the police station. The police had been dilly-dallying to charge Vikas under sections of attempted abduction. But amid allegations of succumbing to pressure and shoddy probe, the police found it difficult to resists criticism from various quarters including the media and the civil society.
After the flip-flop on the CCTV camera footage, it has now come to light that the blood and urine samples of the two accused were not taken to the hospital. This could have been crucial evidence in the case. The duty doctor and the police said the two accused refused their blood and urine samples despite the doctor noting that the two were drunk. It has also come to fore that BJP president Subhash Barala tried frantically to contact Varnika’s father VS Kundu that night when the incident took place. The father did not accept his calls.
Published 09 August 2017, 06:03 IST