The presence of Sukhdev Singh Namdhari during the shootout in which liquor baron Ponty Chadha and his younger brother lost their lives put the establishment in Uttarakhand in an embarrassing situation.
But Delhi Police now categorically denies the presence of an IAS officer at the Chattarpur farmhouse when Chadha was killed in the Saturday noon shootout.
Amid media reports about an IAS officer’s presence near the Chattarpur farmhouse, theory of a third party involvement in the murder case has cropped up. But the Delhi Police has now told Satyavrat Bansal, the Director General of Police (DGP), Uttarakhand, that investigations so far have not revealed any presence of any IAS officer near the crime scene.
Delhi Police has also not received any statement from anybody in this regard, Bansal said.
“It is now clear that no IAS officer from Uttarakhand was present at Chattarpur on Saturday,” said Bansal.
The government on Tuesday had removed Namdhari from the post of the chairman of the state minorities commission after it was revealed he was closely associated with Chadha and was facing several criminal cases including that of murder in the state.
State Congress vice president, Surya Kant Dhasmana, who had earlier demanded Namdhari’s removal, has now asked the chief minister to reveal the names of all those, on whose recommendations Namdhari was given the coveted post. Police reports here said Namdhari was present at Chattarpur farmhouse in New Delhi during the shootout. Namdhari was given the constitutional post by the former BJP government in 2010, allegedly on the recommendations of Chadha.
