Police now hunts for Ponty's cash lying with Namdhari, takes him to Uttarakhand

New Delhi, Dec 1 : Delhi Police is now on the lookout for estate baron Ponty Chadha's cash suspected to be stashed with Sukhdev Singh Namdhari, who has been named as the main conspirator in the shootout. On Friday, police took Sukhdev Singh Namdhari to Bajpur,Uttarakhand to assist in investigation. Sources said the police team will try to recover Ponty Chadha's money that Namdhari is suspected to possess. Namdhari will also be taken to Bilaspur to help police catch his henchmen and a son,who are believed to be hiding there. He will be brought back to the capital by Saturday evening,a source told Times of India. Namdharis custody ends on Sunday and police will have to seek an extension thereafter. Sources said call records of Namdhari, his gunman Sachin Tyagi and a driver show that he spoke with several of his men in Bajpur and a few influential people, including two bureaucrats, two politicians from Uttarakhand and Punjab and at least one politician in Delhi, on the way from the shootout scene to Fortis Hospital. Police are questioning Namdhari about the content of these calls. "We are questioning him about the need to talk to all these people and what was discussed. His account will be tallied with those of his gunman and the driver, who were with him in the SUV. "We are also interrogating him to ascertain if he was carrying any other gun at the time of the shootout", an officer said. Tyagi and Namdhari were confronted on Friday. The gunman reportedly said Namdhari fired the first shot when Ponty opened the door on Hardeep,but it hit the SUVs bonnet. He immediately got out of the vehicle, took cover and fired at Hardeep. Tyagi, who broke down after intense grilling, is learnt to have said that Namdhari fired three bullets at Hardeep. Tyagi may be booked for hiding vital information and delaying the investigation. While raids are on to gather evidence and arrest Namdhari's henchmen, a police team is also looking for evidence to establish that a shot from Namdhari hit Ponty also, the source said. After interrogating Sukhdev Singh Namdhari for six days and recreating the sequence of events several times, the police believe the sacked minorities commission chairman of Uttarakhand intentionally killed Hardeep Singh Chadha, the younger brother of Ponty Chadha."With Hardeep killing Ponty, Namdhari realised it was best to kill the younger brother," a police officer said.The huge unaccounted money and property at stake, the police believe, was the motive behind the murder. They also believe Hardeep started firing and Namdhari ended it."Hardeep fired the first bullet at Ponty's manager. Later, he turned the gun at Ponty. In the crossfire, Namdhari quickly grabbed the opportunity and killed Hardeep so that he remained the only claimant of the unaccounted money and property the three of them knew about," a senior police officer said.Officials said, Namdhari hatched the conspiracy to grab Hardeep's property in February. "There is meticulous planning involved. It was on Namdhari's provocation that Ponty kicked Hardeep and in return, he fired at him," a senior crime branch official said. "Now, no one knows the amount of unaccounted money that has been invested in various projects," he added.Terming Namdhari a 'smart' criminal, a senior police officer said he never made eye contact with the cops during interrogation and never showed any emotion. "He is giving vague answers and is tightlipped on money. Namdhari had helped Ponty in grabbing over a dozen properties in Uttarakhand," he said.Monty Chadha's PSO Satnam, who was arrested on Thursday, said Namdhari was pressuring Ponty to act against his brother. "Namdhari has admitted the fact that he wanted to be the main player rather than being called Ponty's man. However, it is unlikely that he fired at Ponty too but we are not ruling any possibility," he further said.Meanwhile, the investigators took Namdhari again to Uttarakhand to recover two of his 10 allotted bullets that were missing from his residence. Police sources said it has been established that Hardeep fired at Ponty and there was no threat to Namdhari's life. "He was standing across the land cruiser, so the claim of firing in self defence does not hold. As far as the number of bullets is concerned, two are still missing," the officer said. "The questioning of Namdhari, his gunman Sachin Tyagi and Ponty's security manager Narender Ahlawat points to the possibility of Namdhari creating circumstances for a hostile encounter between the Chadha brothers," a source said. Trying to connect the dots of the mystery, sleuths are looking for a link between the shootout and income tax raids at two of Ponty's properties — Centerstage Mall and a Chhatarpur farmhouse — in February this year. They suspect the raids may have proved a turning point in Ponty's relationship with Namdhari, who was living in the businessman's shadow. It was alleged after the tax raids that Ponty was tipped off by a contact in the IT department. No cash was found, causing acute embarrassment to the tax sleuths. However, police sources suspect the alleged stash of Rs 200 crore was handed over to Namdhari for safekeeping. Ponty is also suspected to have made large real estate deals in Namdhari's name, including a 50-acre purchase in Uttarakhand. Police now want to find out whether the thought of having to return the cash and properties to Ponty made Namdhari plot against him.