Chandigarh stalking: Did police reconstruct crime scene without accused?

While the stalking of a senior IAS officer's daughter by the son of Haryana BJP President Subhash Barala has made national headlines, the Chandigarh Police has no idea about the whereabouts of the accused, police sources said on Tuesday.

The Chandigarh Police, which has been accused of being biased towards Vikas Barala, claimed on Monday that it had reconstructed the crime scene of the incident. Was the crime scene reconstructed without calling the accused?

Chandigarh Police officials are silent when asked why the accused has not been called for the crime scene reconstruction.

The police have also failed to call the accused and his accomplice Ashish Kumar, both of whom are out on bail, for further investigation though the incident happened four days back.

The Tata Safari Storm SUV of the accused is parked at the Sector 26 police station here. It has been examined by forensic experts.

"We have reconstructed the scene of the crime. We are trying to get the CCTV footage and getting its technical analysis done," Chandigarh's Senior Superintendent of Police Eish Singhal told the media on Monday evening.

Singhal refused to share details of the probe and instead blamed the media for conducting a "media trial".

Police sources said that CCTV footage from privately installed cameras had been procured and was being examined.

The footage shows Barala's SUV chasing the car driven by the victim. Earlier, the police said there was no CCTV footage of the incident.

Under criticism over its flip-flop, the Chandigarh Police on Monday said it was investigating the case with an "open mind" and more sections could be "added at a later stage" if required.

Singhal claimed that the "incident was being investigated thoroughly and legal opinion was being taken in the matter".

"We are investigating the case with an open mind. If any section (of IPC) has to be added at a later stage, we will do it," he said, while trying to evade direct questions on the role of the Chandigarh Police in trying to shield the main accused.

Chandigarh Police on Saturday booked and arrested Vikas Barala and his friend, both of whom were drunk, on the milder charge of stalking the young woman after they chased her car on their SUV. Both were bailed out within hours of the complaint.

The victim alleged that the youths tried to intimidate her and abduct her.