Sukhdev Namdhari shot at Ponty Chandha's brother Hardeep: police

"Many other persons are also involved in this case and there is a deep-rooted conspiracy in the present crime. In this case, persons having assets of over Rs 1,000 crores is likely to be involved, in this conspiracy," Public Prosecutor Manoj Choudhary said.

"Custodial interrogation at length is required to unearth the entire conspiracy in the crime," he said.

The police told the court that they had to trace out his accomplices who had accompanied him to the crime spot but "vanished later."

"Other associates also, who are hiding in Uttarakhand or Uttar Pradesh, are to be arrested," the prosecutor said.

It also told the court that one of the accused arrested earlier too has disclosed Namdhari's involvement in the shootout.

Namdhari, who was with liquor baron Ponty at the time of his killing, was produced in court today after his arrest yesterday by a Delhi Police team from his residence at Bajpur in Udhamsinghnagar district of Uttarakhand.

Ponty and Hardeep, who had a ongoing property dispute, were killed when both sides opened fire at each other last Saturday at their family farmhouse here.

While seeking Namdhari's custody, the police told the court that a total of 26 criminal cases have been lodged against him in Uttarakhand between 1993 and 2009 and that eight of them are murder cases.

It said he has been accused of threatening people and the police had received several requests to cancel his firearms license.

Opposing the five-day remand sought by the police, Namdhari's counsel R S Mallik said the accused himself lodged the FIR in the present case and had also rushed Ponty Chadha to the hospital, where he was declared "brought dead."

He said, "How can he be a conspirator considering that the other FIR lodged in the case by Hardeep's driver Nand Lal does not show his involvement."

... contd.

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