Ponty shootout: HC rejects Namdhari’s regular bail plea

High Court on Friday rejected the bail plea of sacked Uttarakhand minorities panel chief Sukhdev Singh Namdhari, who along with 20 others, is facing murder trial in a 2012 shootout here that claimed the lives of liquor baron Ponty Chadha and his younger brother Hardeep. “Your application for regular bail is dismissed,” Justice P S Teji said, adding that “presently the accused Namdhari is on interim bail since November 27 last year.” The high court raised questions over a trial court decision granting the accused interim bail even though his regular bail application was dismissed. Namdhari had sought regular 

bail on the ground that he was “no more required by investigating agency and no purpose would be served while keeping him in jail with hardened criminals”.