MainConspiratorNamdhari’sMurder ChargeDowngraded ToCulpableHomicide

NEW DELHI – A Delhi courthas dropped murder chargeagainst all 21 accused in theshootout case involving liquorbaron Ponty Chadha and hisyounger brother Hardeep.The accused included sackedUttarakhand minorities panelchief Sukhdev Singh Namdhari.The court added offence of culpablehomicide not amountingto murder against the allegedmain conspirator Namdhari andhis personal security officerSachin Tyagi.It entails a maximum punishmentof life imprisonment. Thesessions court gave elaboratereasons for dropping murdercharge and invoking culpablehomicide not amounting tomurder against Namdhari andSachin.It said the November 17, 2012shootout that resulted in thekilling of Ponty and Hardeep“seems to be an event whichhappened suddenly and unexpectedly”.“Appearance of Hardeep Singhat the scene was sudden andunexpected, it was he who hadfired at the injured NarenderAhlawat (Ponty’s manager, whois also an accused in the case)and also pumped in several bulletsinto elder brother GurdeepSingh Chadha (Ponty).“Thereafter, Namdhari andSachin used their firearms andshot Hardeep which resulted inhis death… Thus, these actsbring in the culpable homicideby Namdhari and Sachin withinthe domain of exception 4 ofSection 300 of the Indian PenalCode,” Additional SessionsJudge Vimal Kumar Yadav saidwhile ordering framing ofcharges against the accused persons.The charges will be framed formallyagainst all the 21 accusedtomorrow. The remaining 19were charged with attemptedmurder.Besides, the court has alsoordered framing of variouscharges against them under variousprovisions of the IPC,including dacoity, rioting withdeadly weapons, house trespass,illegal confinement, kidnapping,causing grievous harm anddestruction of evidence.