A trial court on Saturday fixed January 13 for pronouncing its order on framing of charges against former Uttarakhand minorities commission chairman S S Namdhari and 21 others in the Ponty Chadha shootout case.
The court which was supposed to deliver the order on Saturday adjourned the hearing for January 13 saying an important CD related to the case had gone missing and he needs to go through the CD.
On December 14, the court had reserved the order for Saturday after arguments on framing of charges were concluded by the Delhi Police and 22 accused.
Earlier, the public prosecutor had told the court that Ponty, Namdhari and his PSO Sachin Tyagi along with their hench men had conspired together to take away Hardeep’s farmhouse from his possession by any means and kill him. However, Namdhari and others refuted the allegations of the probe agency and had said that they are “innocent” and have been “falsely implicated” in the case.
Ponty and Hardeep, who allegedly had a property dispute, were killed in a shootout at a Chhattarpur farmhouse here on November 17 last year. During the course of arguments, the prosecution had told the court that the two brothers were not on talking terms as there was property dispute between them.
“The dispute had not resolved on November 16, 2012 night, so the planning was to take away the property by any means, in which the two brothers were killed,” prosecution had said. Countering the prosecution’s claim, Namdhari and others claimed that Hardeep had conspired with one senior Delhi police official and a Congress MLA to take possession of the farmhouse where the two brothers were killed. Altogether, 22 persons were charge sheeted for offences including attempt to murder, causing grievous harm, dacoity, rioting with deadly weapons, house trespass, kidnapping, illegal confinement and destruction of evidence.
However, the trial against Hardeep, against whom a separate FIR was lodged in the case, and Ponty has been abated as they died in the shootout. The charges of criminal conspiracy, common intention and those under the Arms Act were also levelled against all the 22 accused, including Ponty, for trying to take over the disputed farmhouse from the possession of Hardeep.
The first charge sheet had named Ponty as an accused as he had reached the place of incident with Namdhari and others as part of his “well-hatched conspiracy” to take possession of the south Delhi farm house. The second supplementary charge sheet had accused Hardeep in the case, saying the probe has shown Ponty was killed by the shot fired at him by his brother.
(Source: IANS)
