Panchkula, January 8
Newly-elected Doon legislator Ram Kumar Chaudhary, who was on the run after being named in the Jyoti murder case, surrendered before a Panchkula court here on Tuesday morning on a day he was scheduled to take oath. He was sent to six-day police remand.

The MLA was wanted by the Haryana Police in connection with the murder of 24-year-old Jyoti, who hailed from a village in Hoshiarpur. She was doing her BEd from Mohali and stayed as a paying guest in Chandigarh’s Sector 21. She was found dead in Panchkula on November 22 with her head smashed. Her post-mortem revealed she had recently undergone an abortion.

His accomplices Gurmeet, Dharampal and Paramjeet are still absconding. The Haryana Police had announced a cash reward of Rs 2 lakh for information about Chaudhary yesterday.

The police, which had sought 10 days’ remand, will work on finding Chaudhary’s involvement in the murder case. “We have to find out how Chaudhary and the girl were linked. The deceased was in constant touch with him, as was revealed through call details of the former. Not only this, the location of Chaudhary’s mobile phone was traced near the murder spot on the night of the murder,” said Assistant Commissioner of Police Virender Sangwan, also the investigating officer of the case. As we have to find his involvement in the murder case, we have been granted six days remand by the court, he said.

“We have requested the court to allow the presence of an advocate during interrogation and the same has been granted. He will be physically present, but will not hear in on the interrogation, for one hour every day,” said AS Sukheja, Chaudhary’s counsel.

Chaudhary had sought anticipatory bail so he could take oath, but a Panchkula court rejected his plea on December 26. Chaudhary had then moved the Punjab and Haryana High Court, but withdrew his plea later.

The police have already arrested a SIM card dealer, Ashish Kumar, in the case. He admitted to have sold SIM cards against fake documents to Chaudhary. The MLA’s brother Harbhajan Chaudhary was also arrested on Sunday under Section 216 of the IPC for helping Chaudhary in hiding. The name of the MLA and his three accomplices was added to the FIR after the police saw photographs of Chaudhary at the wedding of Jyoti’s sister and lifted vital clues about his relationship with the deceased.

Chaudhary is the son of four-time Congress MLA Lajja Ram Chaudhary.