Ponty case: Police move HC against dropping of murder charge

The city police on Tuesday moved the Delhi High Court against a trial court order to drop murder charge against all 21 accused in the 2012 sensational shootout case leading to the death of liquor baron Ponty Chadha and his estranged brother Hardeep.

A bench of Justice Indermeet Kaur issued notice to all the accused including sacked Uttarakhand minorities panel chief Sukhdev Singh Namdhari on the revision petition of Delhi Police.

Police has assailed the trial court order, passed on January 15, to drop the serious murder charges against the accused who were connected to Ponty and Hardeep and had allegedly fired at each other in connection with a property dispute between the brothers.

The high court has sought responses from the accused and fixed the matter for hearing on September 4.

Meanwhile, Narender Kumar Ahlawat, one of the accused and closed aide of Ponty, has also approached the high court against the charge framing order of the trial court.

The trial court had dropped the murder charge against all the accused.

It, however, had added offence of culpable homicide not amounting to murder against the alleged main conspirator Namdhari and his personal security officer Sachin Tyagi, which entails maximum punishment of life imprisonment.

Ponty and Hardeep, who allegedly had a property dispute, were killed in a shootout at a Chhattarpur farmhouse here on November 17, 2012.

Ponty and Hardeep were also named in the charge sheet in the case. However, the trial has against them has abated as they were killed in the shootout.

Image: Gurdeep Chadha (Ponty). Photographs: Courtesy, Business Standard.