New Delhi, November 18
The police on Sunday focused its investigation into the killing of the Chadha brothers on reports that it was the younger sibling, Hardeep, who had first opened fire, and that he was killed in retaliatory firing.

Liquor baron Gurdeep Singh ‘Ponty’ Chadha and Hardeep were killed at their Chhatarpur farmhouse yesterday. Dispute over the possession of the farmhouse is said have led to the bloody duel.

The police handed over the siblings’ bodies to their family late in the evening for cremation. This was after it subjected Ponty’s body to a second post-mortem examination to remove three of the four bullets lodged inside.

Ponty had suffered at least 15 gunshot wounds. The doctors at All-India Institute of Medical Sciences could remove just one of the four bullets during the first post-mortem. The bodies were handed over to the family in the evening. Ponty’s body was, however, brought back to the hospital to remove the three remaining bullets. The doctors also removed four bullets from Hardeep’s body. He had suffered six bullet injuries, the police said.

The bodies were cremated at the Lodhi Road crematorium around 9.40 pm.

The family and friends attended the funeral.

The police earlier registered two FIRs, the first under Sections 302 (murder), 307 (attempted murder), IPC, and the Arms Act on a complaint filed by Ponty’s friend and Uttarkhand Minorities Commission member Sukhdev Namdhari, and the second on charges of trespass and murder filed by Hardeep’s manager Nandlal against Ponty’s men.

Namdhari was with Ponty at the time of the shootout.

Police sources said it had questioned 15 persons, including Punjab Police personnel posted as personal security officers with the Chadha brothers.

The police was studying the version that farmhouse No. 42, where the killings took place, was a parental property of the Chadha family and that Hardeep had allegedly taken its possession while Ponty was trying to wrest its back.

They said Hardeep fired first at Ponty, who had gone to the farmhouse along with his friend, Namdhari.

Ponty’s security guard, police sources said, opened retaliatory fire at Hardeep to protect Ponty and his security affairs officer, Narender, who was injured in the shootout and taken to hospital for treatment.

Sources said trouble arose when Ponty’s men reached the farmhouse and threw out Hardeep’s men who in turn alerted their boss.

Hardeep who was then in the Noida area arrived around the time Ponty reached the scene, leading to the shootout.

Sources said investigators were going through the call records of the two brothers and would juxtapose the post-mortem reports with those of the ballistics to find out the nature of the weapons used.

Investigators will also question the personal security officers about their firearms, the number of bullets fired and their targets.