A Delhi Police Crime Branch team on Thursday visited F Bar at The Ashok and LAP lounge bar at Samrat hotel to inquire into the sequence of events leading up to the preventive arrests of two businessmen and four bodyguards by the local police over the weekend.
The team has recorded the statements of the “relevant” persons, including the hotels’ staff, Delhi Police Commissioner Y. S. Dadwal’s son Pranay, who was at F Bar that night, and businessmen Sahil Dhingra and Samir Thapar, who were arrested by the local police.
The Special Investigation Team has also obtained the closed-circuit television camera footage for scrutiny. The footage purportedly confirms Manu Sharma’s presence.
The Crime Branch is now compiling past records of Sahil Dhingra, who was picked up by the local police along with his armed bodyguards from LAP lounge bar in the early hours of November 7 for allegedly creating nuisance.
Accused
The team would also find out if the action taken up the local police was commensurate with the offence committed by the accused.
Mr. Thapar has alleged that he was unnecessarily dragged into the case and that he had no links with Sahil Dhingra or Manu Sharma.
Although the police had not received a written complaint from him seeking investigation and action against those who “illegally” detained and arrested him, the Police Commissioner instituted an independent inquiry into the episode.
While earlier the bodyguards who were detained were understood to be of Sahil Dhingra, the team is also verifying if they were in any way linked to Manu Sharma.
Parole
The police refrained from making any statement on the recommendation of parole to Manu Sharma stating that it was the State Government’s prerogative.
“As a practice, the Government seeks opinions of the police from the place of the applicant’s residence, which was Chandigarh in Manu Sharma’s case; the police from the place of occurrence; and the jail authorities,” said a police officer.
