Ponty Chadha shootout case: HC rejects Sukhdev Singh Namdhari's regular bail plea

NEW DELHI: Delhi High Court today rejected the bail plea of sacked Uttarakhand minorities panel chief Sukhdev Singh Namdhari, who along with 20 others, is facing murder trial in a 2012 shootout here that claimed the lives of liquor baron Ponty Chadha and his younger brother Hardeep.

"Your application for regular bail is dismissed," Justice PS Teji said, adding that "presently the accused Namdhari is on interim bail since November 27 last year."

The high court also raised questions over a trial court decision granting the accused interim bail even though his regular bail application was dismissed by the same court.

Namdhari had sought regular bail on the ground that he was "no more required by investigating agency and no purpose would be served while keeping him in jail with hardened criminals".

The police had opposed his request saying he was the main accused who had actively participated in the conspiracy.

Ponty and Hardeep, who were allegedly involved in a property dispute, were killed in a shootout at a Chhattarpur farmhouse here on November 17, 2012. Subsequently Namdhari was arrested on November 23, 2012. Later, the remaining accused were apprehended.

The trial court in July last year had framed charges under section 302 (murder) read with section 149 (offence committed by member of unlawful assembly) of the IPC against all the 21 accused, including Namdhari and his Personal Security Officer (PSO) Sachin Tyagi.

Namdhari, through his advocate R S Malik, claimed innocence and said the complainant of the case on whose statement an FIR was lodged had not supported the police theory that he was part of the conspiracy. He said the FIR too did not contain his name.

The accused also said he had never misused any condition imposed on him during the interim bail, which ends on April 4. He also claimed there was no "premeditation" for shooting at Hardeep.