New Delhi:
The judicial custody of seven accused named in a charge sheet for their alleged roles in the killings of liquor baron Ponty Chadha and his younger brother Hardeep was on Thursday extended by 14 days by a Delhi court.
Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Raj Kumar Tripathi remanded the accused in judicial custody till April 25 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 charge sheet along with sacked Uttarakhand minorities panel chief S S Namdhari and 13 others for killings in Ponty Chadha's farmhouse in south Delhi on November 17, last year.
After absconding for over three months, the seven men, all allegedly belonging to 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.
The court had on December 28, 2012 ordered initiation of proceedings under section 82 of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC) to declare them as proclaimed offenders.
Ponty and Hardeep, who were allegedly embroiled in a property dispute, were killed in a shootout at the Chhattarpur farmhouse.
Besides Namdhari and his personal security officer Sachin Tyagi, the police had on February 16 named 20 others including Ponty Chadha in the charge sheet for offences ranging from attempt to murder, causing grievous harm, dacoity, rioting with deadly weapons, house trespass, kidnapping and illegally confining occupants of the farm house and destruction of evidence.
All the 22 accused have been charged with criminal conspiracy, common intention and under the Arms Act.
The charge sheet named Ponty as an accused as he had reached the farmhouse in pursuance of his "well-hatched conspiracy" with Namdhari and others to take over the possession of the disputed property which was under Hardeep's custody.
Out of the 22 accused, proceedings against Ponty stand abated as he was killed in the shootout.