Ponty Chadha case: Seven accused sent to judicial custody till April 11

The judicial custody of seven accused named in a charge sheet for their alleged roles in the killings of liquor baron Ponty Chadha and his younger brother Hardeep was on Friday extended by a Delhi court by 14 days.

Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Raj Kumar Tripathi remanded the accused to judicial custody till April 11 after they were produced before him on expiry of their earlier custody.

Satnam Singh, Balkar Singh, Baaj Singh, Pargat Singh, Kulbir Singh, Bakshish Singh and Hardayal Singh were named in the charge sheet along with sacked Uttarakhand minorities panel chief S S Namdhari and 13 others for the November 17 last year killings in Ponty's farmhouse in south Delhi.

After absconding for over three months, the seven men, all from Namdhari's group, had surrendered on March 7.

The court had earlier issued non-bailable warrants against them and two others, who still remain untraceable.

The court had on December 28, 2012 ordered initiation of proceedings under section 82 of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC) to declare them as proclaimed offenders.

Delhi Police Crime Branch officials, meanwhile, informed the court that on the basis of information gathered during custodial interrogation of the seven accused, it has recovered the guns and vehicles used by them during the commission of the crime.

It has also said that the supplementary charge sheet will be filed against the accused very soon.

Ponty and Hardeep, who were allegedly embroiled in a property dispute, were killed in the shootout at the Chhattarpur farmhouse.

Besides Namdhari and his personal security officer Sachin Tyagi, the police had on February 16 named 20 others including Ponty in the charge sheet for offences ranging from attempt to murder, causing grievous harm, dacoity, rioting with deadly weapons, house trespass, kidnapping and illegally confining occupants of the farm house and destruction of evidence.

All the 22 accused have been charged with criminal conspiracy, common intention and those under the Arms Act.

The charge sheet named Ponty as an accused as he had reached the farmhouse in pursuance of his "well-hatched conspiracy" with Namdhari and others to take over the possession of the disputed property which was under Hardeep's custody.

The charge sheet had stated that Ponty and Namdhari were the "main conspirators in armed and forcible dispossession of occupants from farm house No. 42".

Out of 22, proceedings against Ponty stand abated as he was killed in the shootout.