Namdhari ‘admits’ shot Hardeep, charged with attempt to murder

The Delhi Police on Saturday charged former Uttarakhand Minorities Commission chairman Sukhdev Singh Namdhari with attempt to murder and criminal trespass, calling him the main conspirator in the Delhi farmhouse shootout that left liquor baron Ponty Chadha and his brother Hardeep dead. According to the police, Namdhari had confessed to firing at Hardeep.

Namdhari, who was produced in a Delhi court after his arrest on Friday from Uttarakhand's Udham Singh Nagar district, was remanded in police custody till November 28.

Sources said Namdhari had fired three rounds towards Hardeep and it was after this that his PSO Sachin Tyagi shot at the latter with his 9mm carbine. Which bullets hit Hardeep and which proved fatal is expected to be revealed in the ballistic report. Namdhari's contention of self-defence apparently doesn't hold much water as no bullets were found close to where he was at the time of the shootout.

Namdhari's "involvement" was reportedly revealed by Bhupender Singh Bisht, a protocol officer of Ponty, during interrogation. A close aide of Namdhari, he allegedly told the police Namdhari had been a henchman of Ponty and helped him seize properties.

Bisht was arrested along with Rajpal, Uday and Anand (all of them Ponty's associates) and booked for trespassing and thrashing Hardeep's men.

Investigations into the November 17 shootout, sources said, have also revealed that on that day, Namdhari had sent at least 40 men, including Ponty's aides, to the Chhattarpur farmhouse. They were later split into three groups, one of which was dispatched to the Bijwasan farmhouse to capture the property there.

Based on Bisht's interrogation, sources said, it seemed the entire plan was devised by Namdhari about two days before the incident. It was decided that his men would capture the farmhouse and that if there was any interruption in their plans, or if anyone from the other side intervened or tried to stop them, they would fire in the air.

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