New Delhi, November 24
Former Uttarakhand Minorities Commission Chairman Sukhdev Singh Namdhari had fired at Ponty Chadha’s younger brother, Hardeep Singh, during the gun battle outside Chadha’s farmhouse in Delhi on November 17 in which both brothers were killed, the Delhi Police told a local court today.

The police said Namdhari was the main conspirator in the shootout. He hid the gun used by him in the firing after the incident and did not mention about it in the FIR lodged by him in connection with the case later. The court was informed that Namdhari was involved in vandalising the Chhatarpur farmhouse (where the gun battle took place). He was also involved in the robbery and murder attempts made there. An accused arrested earlier had revealed that Namdhari was involved in the shootout, the police claimed.

Metropolitan Magistrate Sandeep Garg remanded Namdhari in police custody for five days. “The investigating agencies should be given an opportunity in their endeavour to recover the weapon used in the crime. In view of the same, the accused is remanded in police custody for five days till November 28,” he said.

The Delhi Police arrested Namdhari from his residence at Bajpur, Uttarakhand, yesterday. Investigators will again take him to the state to recover the gun with which he had allegedly fired at Hardeep.

Namdhari had reportedly confessed that he fired at Hardeep with his gun. He, however, claimed that he did so in self-defence as Hardeep had aimed his gun at him. Namdhari also told the investigators that he had fired before his Uttarakhand Police bodyguard Sanjay Tyagi shot at Hardeep.

The police will now verify if Hardeep died due to shots fired from the weapon of Tyagi or that of Namdhari.

Talking to reporters outside the court, Namdhari said, “It was just an accident. I called the police myself and had also lodged the FIR. This is a conspiracy and it will be incorrect to say that I had fired. It is a matter of investigation.”