An inquiry report on arms licences issued to Sukhdev Singh Namdhari, the main accused in the Ponty and Hardeep Chadha murders, has said that he had resorted to illegal means to secure fake residence proofs to get arms licences and passports in Punjab.
The former chairman of the Uttarakhand Minorities Commission now faces various criminal charges, including that of forgery, in Punjab.
The report submitted to Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal, who also holds the Home portfolio in the State, has indicted Namdhari for procuring arms licences and duplicate licences by giving false addresses and fake identity proofs.
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The accused got a passport from Jalandhar by furnishing a fake ration card and pretending to be a resident of village Janian, Kang Khurd in Tehsil Shahkot, Jalandhar.
The report states that Namdhari exercised his ‘influence’ to procure arms licences, as an uncommon haste was shown in expediting his application for the licence. It was forwarded from the office of the then Deputy Commissioner of Roop Nagar to the SSP and to the SHO concerned in a single day.
He applied for issuance of an arms licence to DM, Roop Nagar, on September 20, 1994, for which he submitted a ration card for residence proof, with a Kurali address.
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The application for licence was moved on September 20, 1994, by Namdhari to the DC Office, Ropar, which was forwarded to SSP, Ropar, the same day and further marked to SHO, police station Kurali, by SSP, Ropar, also the same day. This is not the normal practice and shows the use of some influence to give priority to the applicant, the report said. Irregularities have also been found in the police verification report, where the inquiry found that right from the verification to the recommendation of the licence, the same official moved the file, first as in-charge of City Kotwali, and then as SHO, Kurali, and no investigating officer was deputed.
In addition to Namdhari, four more applicants, including his real brother, were issued arms licences.