DEHRADUN/NEW DELHI, Nov 25:
A pistol allegedly used by Sukhdev Singh Namdhari during the shootout at Ponty Chadha’s farmhouse in South Delhi has been recovered by investigators from his residence in Uttarakhand, two days after his arrest in the high-profile case.
Delhi Police had alleged that Namdhari, the sacked Uttarakhand Minorities Commission Chairman, had opened fire at Ponty’s brother Hardeep during the shootout at Chattarpur on November 17 in which both the brothers were killed. However, Namdhari had said that he did not fire at Hardeep.
After procuring a remand for five days yesterday, police today took Namdhari to his Bajpur residence from where he was arrested on Friday and recovered a 7.62 pistol, which investigators suspect was the firearm that he used during the shootout.
Namdhari was also taken to areas around Bajpur and neighbouring Uttar Pradesh.
Meanwhile, the personal security officer of Namdhari, who was initially picked up for questioning, was released last night. Namdhari had told the police that his PSO Sachin Tyagi had shot at Hardeep in self-defence.
Investigators said Tyagi will continue to be a part of the investigation in the case.
Police sources said they had recovered 122 cartridges in Hardeep’s Mercedes and that it was Ponty’s PSO, Bhupender Singh Bhist, who spilled the beans on Namdhari.
They also said forensic reports suggested that Hardeep aimed at Namdhari after which shots were fired at him.
Police is also checking call records of several mobile phones left behind by Ponty’s men at the spot. (PTI)
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