Tyagi, Ponty’s driver help police recreate gunfight scene

New Delhi : The Crime Branch and officials from the CFSL reconstructed the shootout scene at 42, Central Drive (Chhattarpur), on Tuesday. The exercise, police said, was meant to ascertain the trajectory of the bullets, whose marks were on the walls of the farmhouse.

Gurdeep Singh Chadha alias Ponty and his brother Hardeep were killed in the shootout on November 17.

Sachin Tyagi, the PSO of recently sacked chairman of Uttarakhand Minorities Commission Sukhdev Singh Namdhari, was taken to the crime scene along with Ponty’s driver Raj Dev to reconstruct the shootout scene.

Ponty’s Land Cruiser was placed at the spot where it was on the day of the gunfight, Raj Dev got into the driver’s seat and Tyagi was told to sit next to him.

Police said the positions were labelled — Ponty was marked as seated behind Tyagi and Namdhari was labelled behind the driver.

Tyagi reportedly told police that Ponty’s manager Narender was near the gate when Hardeep grabbed him by the neck and shot at his leg. He then moved towards Ponty.

Police were told that Ponty opened the SUV’s door, which hit Hardeep who fell on the ground. Hardeep then pumped bullets into Ponty, most of which hit his upper thigh and stomach, police were told. Tyagi said he and Namdhari took cover near the wheels of the car. He said as he moved towards the front of the car, he saw Namdhari draw his pistol.

The four-hour-long reconstruction was videographed.

Police said Namdhari’s son, his uncle Hardayal and driver are still absconding and raids are being conducted to locate them.