Even as locals claimed to have seen Ponty Chadha’s supporters allegedly forcing their way into a farmhouse, following which they beat up his young brother Hardeep’s employees in Chhattarpur here on November 17, a police team that visited the area shortly thereafter following a call about scuffle at the farmhouse did not come across anything suspicious.
The police on Monday said the first call regarding some scuffle at the farmhouse was received at 11-50 a.m. “A Police Control Room team visited the spot and made enquiries. Statements of some persons were also taken. At that time, the team did not find anything suspicious there. What we have with us at this stage is different versions of the entire sequence of events. They need to be verified and ballistic and forensic analysis tests examined before we reach any conclusion,” said a police officer.
Police investigations have revealed that on the morning of November 17, Ponty Chadha’s men had struck at the farmhouse allegedly with an intention to dispossess Hardeep. They lifted a car -- without wheels that was apparently placed in front of one of the gates to prevent forced entry -- out of their way and broke open the gate-lock to enter the premises. The armed men beat up Hardeep’s associates and snatched their phones before throwing them out. They also reportedly opened fire in the air.
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The locals saw Hardeep’s employees fleeing from the spot. The assailants had also kept some occupants in confinement. While the police said a local enquiry made by the PCR team following the 11-50 a.m. call did not reveal anything suspicious, they later discovered that a large number of people had indeed made forced entry and occupied the farmhouse. Based on the findings, a separate case has been registered in this regard.
The same incident, besides a similar attempt made the same day to evict Hardeep’s men from another farmhouse in Bijwasan, allegedly triggered an exchange of fire in which Ponty Chadha and Hardeep were killed.