Ponty Chadha case: Namdhari was his guest before shootout

NEW DELHI: The Ponty Chadha shootout mystery is getting deeper by the day, with new facts emerging. Investigators claim the liquor baron had asked Sukhdev Singh Namdhari, sacked chief of Uttarakhand’s minorities commission, to come to Delhi with his men three days before the November 17 shootout in which Chadha and his younger brother Hardeep were killed. Namdhari is said to have stayed with Ponty for two days.

Namdhari is learnt to have told interrogators that the dispute between Ponty and Hardeep over the family’s two farmhouses in Delhi had gone on for over a year, but the tension increased three days before the shootout .

“Hardeep’s decision to sell the farmhouses — ‘for sale’ signs were stuck on the gates of the properties, 42 Central Drive in Chhatarpur and G-19 in Bijwasan drove Ponty to summon Namdhari. Ponty wanted to grab the bungalows to have the upper hand in negotiations with his brother,” said a source.

After two days of preliminary investigation, the crime branch has picked two new witnesses: Hardeep’s private guard Subodh Tyagi and driver Kaushal. They have been taken into custody for questioning to recreate the sequence of events leading up to the killings. Kaushal , sources said, had dropped Hardeep at the gate of the Chhatarpur farmhouse where the shootout occurred , and was parking the car down the lane when he heard the gunshots.

While Ponty’s driver Raj Dev remains the main witness , at least nine other people who witnessed bits of the encounter have been questioned . These include – Namdhari, his PSO Sachin Tyagi, and Ponty’s men Bhupinder Singh Bisht, Uday Raj, Rajpal Singh, Anand Singh Bisht, Mathura Singh Mehra and Anna.

“They hold the key to the sequence of the shootout,” said the source. Three Punjab Police gunmen , who were assigned to Hardeep, have been called again for questioning. All statements will be recorded on camera.

Investigation and analysis of statements of more than 100 people has also revealed that at least 20 men, mostly associates of Namdhari , are on the run.
“They were sent by Namdhari to grab the farmhouses but fled, probably around the time of the shootout.

Out teams are raiding several places in Uttar Pradesh . We have identified some of the suspects,” said the source. The search effort is focused on tracing a Namdhari aide named Hardayal alias Mama, who was present when the farmhouses were broken into.

About Namdhari, who was brought to Delhi on Monday , an official said, “he keeps changing his statements and is now downplaying his role in the shootout. He is claiming that he had no role in the firing and that he just came with Ponty to the farmhouse with threefour men. But we have two witnesses — Sachin Tyagi and Raj Dev — who have confirmed that he had indeed fired” .

On Monday, metropolitan magistrate Sudhanshu Kaushik extended the police custody of Bhupender Singh, Uday Raj Singh, Rajpal Singh, Anand Singh Bisht and Mathura Singh Mehra till November 28 as police stressed on the need to confront them with Namdhari . The five were produced in the court by the crime branch after expiry of their remand.

“Keeping in mind the seriousness of the offence and also that the investigation is still at a preliminary stage, three days’ police custody is granted to the crime branch,” the court said.