NRI’s abduction: Recording of victim’s statement deferred again
Saturday, 06/12/2014
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CHANDIGARH: Entangled in multilayered international channels of communication, the recording of statement of Canadabased NRI Navneet Singh Chatha, who was kidnapped for a ransom of ` 1 crore in April 2012 and rescued within few hours, was deferred yet again.
The court in September had ordered recording of Chatha’s statement through video conferencing after he expressed his inability to travel to India due to alleged threat to his life.
As the court of additional district and sessions judge Shalini S Nagpal failed to receive any communication regarding the recording of Chatha’s statement, the court adjourned the hearing of the case to January 10 next year.
The court has issued directions to record the statement in presence of an embassy representative, who would identify Navneet, thus giving a fresh impetus to the trial that had come to a standstill in the absence of Navneet to record his statement and identify the accused.
The Chandigarh police had arrested six persons — Pradeep Malik, Nitin, Sanjeev Kumar, alias Soni, Sukhdev, Anil Kumar and Ajit Singh — on charges of kidnapping, robbery, wrongful confinement, receiving stolen property and forgery. Soni owned the farmhouse where the victim was confined.
All the accused are behind bars ever since. The court is to record Navneet’s statement who has not been appearing before the court despite summons, claiming threat to his life.
Chatha was kidnapped on April 10, 2012, and a team of the crime branch of the UT police rescued him following an extensive operation in a Kurukshetra village. The NRI’s brother, who is also a Canadian resident, had received the ransom call. The police laid a trap and arrested the accused.
The police had recovered ` 12.5 lakh, 300 Canadian dollars, victim’s Honda Accord car, a Swift Dzire car robbed from a person in Panchkula and two mobile phones. The police had said the NRI was robbed of his purse and belongings at gunpoint. The police added sections of robbery besides attempt to murder against the accused.
