Ponty shootout: Cops concludes arguments on charges against 22

Delhi Police has concluded arguments on charges against sacked Uttarakhand minorities panel chief S S Namdhari and 21 others in connection with the killing of liquor baron Ponty Chadha and his brother Hardeep, claiming all the accused were part of a "conspiracy to kill".

However, Namdhari has refuted all the allegation of the investigating agency before Additional Sessions Judge Vimal Kumar Yadav and said he is "innocent" and has been "falsely implicated".

After Delhi Police Crime Branch concluded its argument, Namdhari's counsel R S Malik began his submissions, saying there is no legal evidence against his client and the accused has no connection with the bullets recovered from the spot or from the bodies of the deceased brothers.

Malik also told the court that none of the co-accused has in their statement named Namdhari or referred to his involvement in the commission of the offence.

Ponty and Hardeep, who allegedly had a property dispute, were killed in a shootout at a Chhattarpur farmhouse on November 17 last year.

During the course of arguments, the prosecution informed the court that the two brothers were not on talking terms as there was property dispute between them.

"The dispute was 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," the prosecution said.

The prosecution narrated the sequence of events leading to the final act of murder and said Ponty and Namdhari had conspired to take over the farmhouse from Hardeep's possession.

It said Hardeep had arrived at the scene and when Ponty's men were opening the gate of the disputed property, Hardeep fired at him and also at Ponty, and in return Namdhari and his PSO Sachin Tyagi shot him.