Namdhari's plea for separate vehicle dismissed by court

A Delhi court has dismissed sacked Uttarakhand minority panel chief S S Namdhari's plea for a separate vehicle to ferry him between the court and jail, where he has been lodged following his arrest for allegedly killing liquor baron Ponty Chadha's brother Hardeep.

Metropolitan Magistrate Gaurav Rao turned down Namdhari's request, made by his counsel R S Malik, who said sought a separate vehicle for Namdhari, saying he faced threat to his life.

The request was made by the counsel on Thursday, when Namdhari was produced before the court after expiry of his judicial remand.

In his plea, Malik had said other under-trials had attacked and injured his client, when he was being brought to the court.

The court had yesterday remanded Namdhari and his Personal Security Officer Sachin Tyagi, who too has been arrested for his alleged role in the killing, to judicial custody till December 27.

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 eight persons including Tyagi and Namdhari in various criminal cases linked to the incident.

The court also extended the judicial custody of other arrested persons -- Bhupender Singh, Uday Raj Singh, Rajpal Singh, Anand Singh Bisht, Mathura Singh Mehra and Satnam Singh, till December 27.

All the eight accused have been booked for allegedly committing the offences of hatching criminal conspiracy, attempt to murder, dacoity, assault, Arms Act, destruction of evidence, trespass, illegal confinement and kidnapping.

The police, however, has booked Namdhari on charges of murder. The police had told the court that from the probe, it has been established that Namdhari has played a vital role in the conspiracy with other co-accused, who acted on his orders.

Meanwhile, the court has sent Simranjeet Singh and Jagbir Singh, memebrs of Namdhari's 'Khalsa Sena', to police custody till December 18.

"Both of them had played an integral role in helping Namdhari and Ponty gain access and then forcibly occupy the Chhatarpur farmhouse. We are investigating whether they were also present at the Fortis Hospital when Ponty was taken there by Namdhari," the police told the court, while seeking their remand.