Vikas ‘admits’ he was driving SUV seen in footage

BUT DENIES STALKING VARNIKA; REMANDED IN 2DAY POLICE CUSTODY ALONG WITH ASHISH; DEFENCE LAWYER ALLEGES ‘MEDIA TRIAL UNDER PRESSURE’

CHANDIGARH: A Chandigarh court remanded Vikas Barala, the son of Haryana BJP chief Subhash Barala, and his friend Ashish Kumar, in two days’ police custody on Thursday, a day after they were re-arrested and charged with a bid to kidnap disc jockey Varnika Kundu, 29, in addition to stalking her.

Civil judge Barjinder Pal Singh sent the two accused in police custody till August 12 after the police said they wanted to reconstruct the crime scene.

Defence lawyer Surya Prakash argued that the duo’s arrest was the result of a “media trial”.

“The woman feared kidnapping but no weapon has been recovered. The two are unnecessarily being harassed due to pressure from the media and other quarters. When they were caught by the police, there was no woman at the spot,” Prakash said.

Earlier, the two arrived at the district court complex from the Sector 26 police station amid tight security at 2.20pm. Dressed in a blue shirt Vikas, 23, who aspires to be a lawyer, and Ashish covered their faces with handkerchiefs to avoid the media glare. Vikas wore a grim look and appeared timid. Ashish appeared more confident even while responding to the judge. Vikas was barely audible.

Confronted with CCTV footage, Vikas is learnt to have admitted before the police that he was driving the Tata Safari Storme SUV last Friday night. He is learnt to have told the police that he was on his way to drop Ashish back to his residence in Panchkula. He denied stalking let alone attempting to kidnap Varnika.

Vikas and Ashish were re-arrested on Wednesday after being charged with a non-bailable offence of attempted abduction under Sections 365 and 511 of the IPC, which relates to an attempt to commit an offence punishable with life or other imprisonment. The maximum punishment under this section is of seven years.