Court extends Namdhari's police custody till Dec 7

The police custody of sacked Uttarakhand minority panel chief Sukhdev Singh Namdhari, booked on charges of murder in slain liquor baron Ponty Chadha shootout case, was extended on Wednesday by a Delhi court till December 7.

Metropolitan Magistrate Rajinder Singh extended Namdhari's police custody by two more days saying he is required to be interrogated for recovery of the alleged weapon and vehicle used in the crime.

"In the facts and circumstances of the case, the accused Namdhari is further remanded to two days of police custody."

The accused be produced before this court or any other competent court upon the expiry of the police custody remand on December 7," the court said.

Namdhari's police custody was extended after the Delhi police crime branch told the court that during the interrogation, the accused had disclosed the name of his associates and his custodial interrogation is required for their identification.

Namdhari's counsel R S Malik, however, opposed the police plea for remand saying his client has already spent over 11 days in police custody and there was nothing else to be recovered from him as the police has already seized the alleged weapons used in the shootout.

During the hearing, the crime branch investigating officer Jitendar Singh told the court that investigation in the case and statement of a witness has established that Namdhari and his PSO Sachin Tyagi, who is already in police custody, had fired at Ponty's brother Hardeep, who had also died in the shootout.

Ponty and Hardeep, who had an ongoing property dispute, were killed in a shootout at their Chattarpur farmhouse on November 17 afternoon, after which the police has arrested altogether 10 people including Namdhari and Tyagi in various criminal cases linked to the incident.