Bazpur, Uttarakhand:
Nearly 10 days after the murders of controversial liquor baron Ponty Chadha and his brother Hardeep, the Delhi Police have found the gun they believe was used by Mr Chadha's aide Sukhdev Singh Namdhari during the shootout.
A Delhi police team that took Mr Namdhari to his farmhouse at Bazpur in Uttarakhand found the 7.62 mm pistol of Indian make there. Accompanied by Mr Namdhari, the police team searched his residence in Uttarakhand's Uddham Singh Nagar district for other possible evidence.
A shootout at a South Delhi farmhouse on November 17 had left both the Chadha brothers dead. Mr Namdhari, who was recently sacked as the Uttarakhand Minorities Commission chairman, had admitted to firing three rounds at Hardeep, the police yesterday told a Delhi court. Sources say Mr Namdhari insists he fired in self-defence, but his bullets did not kill Hardeep.
Mr Namdhari was yesterday sent by the court to five days in police custody. He was arrested by a Delhi Police team from his house in Bajpur on Friday and brought to the Capital.
The police claim Mr Namdhari was the main conspirator in the attempt to evict Hardeep from the disputed Chattarpur farmhouse in south Delhi. Dispute over the farmhouse and other properties is suspected to have sparked off the November 17 shootout.
Mr Namdhari already faces charges of criminal trespassing at the farmhouse and attempt to murder. The police say he had, on the morning of November 17, led 30-40 of Ponty's associates to the farmhouse to forcibly take over the property. The group allegedly detained and thrashed Hardeep's men and fired in the air.
Mr Namdhari, who was initially considered a key witness in the case, has alleged a political conspiracy behind his arrest. Emerging from the court, he said: "I don't want to talk more on this case. I just want to say it was an accident and the FIR was lodged by me. I called the police myself. It is wrong to say I fired. It is a matter of investigation."
Mr Namdhari, according to the police, used to help Ponty grab land.
Mr Namdhari, who was removed as Uttarakhand Minorities Commission chairman after the shootout, has 26 cases against him in Uttarakhand between 1993 and 2009. Eight of them are murder cases. Mr Namdhari is alleged to have often threatened people - the police got requests in 2001, 2003 and 2009 to cancel his firearm licence.
(With inputs from PTI)
A Delhi police team that took Mr Namdhari to his farmhouse at Bazpur in Uttarakhand found the 7.62 mm pistol of Indian make there. Accompanied by Mr Namdhari, the police team searched his residence in Uttarakhand's Uddham Singh Nagar district for other possible evidence.
A shootout at a South Delhi farmhouse on November 17 had left both the Chadha brothers dead. Mr Namdhari, who was recently sacked as the Uttarakhand Minorities Commission chairman, had admitted to firing three rounds at Hardeep, the police yesterday told a Delhi court. Sources say Mr Namdhari insists he fired in self-defence, but his bullets did not kill Hardeep.
Mr Namdhari was yesterday sent by the court to five days in police custody. He was arrested by a Delhi Police team from his house in Bajpur on Friday and brought to the Capital.
The police claim Mr Namdhari was the main conspirator in the attempt to evict Hardeep from the disputed Chattarpur farmhouse in south Delhi. Dispute over the farmhouse and other properties is suspected to have sparked off the November 17 shootout.
Mr Namdhari already faces charges of criminal trespassing at the farmhouse and attempt to murder. The police say he had, on the morning of November 17, led 30-40 of Ponty's associates to the farmhouse to forcibly take over the property. The group allegedly detained and thrashed Hardeep's men and fired in the air.
Mr Namdhari, who was initially considered a key witness in the case, has alleged a political conspiracy behind his arrest. Emerging from the court, he said: "I don't want to talk more on this case. I just want to say it was an accident and the FIR was lodged by me. I called the police myself. It is wrong to say I fired. It is a matter of investigation."
Mr Namdhari, according to the police, used to help Ponty grab land.
Mr Namdhari, who was removed as Uttarakhand Minorities Commission chairman after the shootout, has 26 cases against him in Uttarakhand between 1993 and 2009. Eight of them are murder cases. Mr Namdhari is alleged to have often threatened people - the police got requests in 2001, 2003 and 2009 to cancel his firearm licence.
(With inputs from PTI)
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