Two firearms have been seized from the Uttarakhand residence of the former Uttarakhand Minorities Commission chairman, Sukhdev Singh Namdhari, who was arrested by the Delhi Police for allegedly shooting at liquor baron Ponty Chadha’s brother Hardeep at a Chhattarpur farmhouse here on November 17. The firearms — a pistol and a gun — would be sent for ballistic analysis to ascertain whether they were used in the murders.
Namdhari was first taken to Moradabad in Uttar Pradesh and then to his Bajpur residence in Udham Singh Nagar. At his instance, the police claimed to have seized the firearms, licences for which were reportedly issued from Punjab.
The police suspect that the firearms were used either for evicting Hardeep’s men from the farmhouse or to shoot at him after he allegedly opened fire at Ponty Chadha. The police have, however, so far not come across anything incriminating against Sachin Tyagi, personal security officer of Namdhari, who had also allegedly fired at Hardeep.
The police claimed that Namdhari was part of the conspiracy hatched along with Ponty Chadha to evict Hardeep from the farmhouses at Chhattarpur and Bijwasan. Soon after they tried to gain possession of the properties, they had an encounter with Hardeep at the Chhattarpur farmhouse. In the ensuing exchange of fire both the brothers were killed. The police later seized 122 cartridges from Hardeep’s car. While 10 more persons have been identified in the alleged trespass case, the number could even go beyond 30.
