Khattar govt under fire for ‘shielding’ BJP leader’s son
chandigarh — The police handling of the incident of stalking and alleged attempt to kidnap the daughter of a bureaucrat snowballed into a major controversy with the opposition on Monday accusing the BJP government in Haryana of shielding the state unit chief and his son, an accused, while the police said it has an open mind and could add further charges in the case.
The government headed by Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar continued to draw flak for the pressure that was allegedly brought on the Chandigarh Police to dilute the case against Vikas Barala, son of Subhash Barala, and his friend Ashish Kumar, who allegedly stalked and intimidated a 29-year-old woman last week.
Under criticism from various quarters over its flip-flop in the incident involving the daughter of a senior Haryana IAS officer, Chandigarh Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Eish Singhal said: “We are investigating the case with an open mind. If any section has to be added at a later stage, we will do it.”
Singhal tried to evade direct questions on the role of the police in trying to shield the main accused, Vikas Barala and his friend Ashish Kumar.
9 CCTV footage missing
However, he did not answer questions on reports that video footage of seven of the nine CCTVs had gone missing.
“We have reconstructed the scene of the crime. We are trying to get the CCTV footage. We will get the technical analysis of this done. We have been investigating it only for three days,” he said.
“We are not doing anything under pressure. We are a professional investigating agency and we are doing our job,” Singhal said. He accused the media of conducting a “media trial” in the matter.
Defending the police action in this matter, Singhal said that the police officials immediately booked the accused and arrested them though they were later released on bail.
Vikas, friend arrested
Chandigarh Police on Saturday booked and arrested Vikas Barala and his friend, both of whom were drunk, on charges of stalking the young woman after chasing her car in their SUV. The victim alleged that the youth tried to intimidate her and abduct her.
Earlier, police said there was no CCTV footage of the incident. Deputy Superintendent of Police Satish Kumar told the media that they tried to get CCTV footage from nine CCTV cameras along the route, from Sector 7 to Housing Board traffic light point, but all were found to be “non-functional”.
Stalked on a busy route
The route along which the two accused stalked Varnika Kundu, daughter of Haryana Additional Chief Secretary V.S. Kundu, passes through some prominent and busy parts of Chandigarh including the Sector 26 Police Lines.
“It is strange that the CCTV cameras of such high-profile areas were not working. This seems to be a cover-up,” a junior police officer said.
The victim and her family have said they will fight the case to its “logical conclusion”.
The Congress on Monday accused the Union Home Ministry of trying to protect the son of Haryana BJP President Subhash Barala. Congress spokesperson Randeep Surjewala said the Chandigarh Police, which comes under the Home Ministry, diluted the charges and booked Vikas Barala under bailable offences. —