F Bar firing incident: Chandigarh court frames charges against all six accused

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, October 11

A local court has framed charges against all six accused in the alleged firing incident that took place three years ago during the birthday celebrations of BJP leader Sehdev Salaria at F Bar and Restaurant here.

The charges have been framed against Rinku, Rohit Bhardwaj, Chetan Munjal, Arjun Thakur and Rajesh Paswan for the offences under Section 307, 506, 34 of the IPC and Section 25 of the Arms Act.

The court also framed charges against Gunkaran Singh, owner of F Bar and Restaurant, for offences under Section 201 of the IPC (destruction of evidence) and Section 188 (violating DM’s order), dismissing his application for the discharge from the case.

The police had registered an FIR against the accused on November 20, 2018 for the offences under Sections 147, 148, 149, 188, 201, 307 and 506 of the IPC at the Sector 26 police station, Chandigarh, on a complaint of Deepak Kundu.

Kundu told the police that he, along with his friends Yogeshwar, Pankaj, Jaideep and other companions, went to the bar to attend the birthday party of Sehdev Salaria. When the party was going on, Arjun, Chetan Munjal, Rinku, Rimmy and Rajesh Paswan also reached there. About 12:05 am, an altercation took place between Pankaj and Arjun, following which Arjun, Chetan Munjal, Rinku, Rimmy and Rajesh Paswan attacked him and his friends Yogeshwar and Pankaj.

Two of the accused took out pistols and opened fire at Yogeshwar, Pankaj and Jaideep with an intention to kill them. Arjun hit Pankaj on his head with a bottle. Yogeshwar and Jaideep sustained gunshot injuries. Pankaj also suffered injuries on his head.

The injured persons were taken to a hospital. The assailants fled from the spot threatening to kill Kundu and his friends. An FIR was registered on the basis of the statement of the injured persons.

Three cartridges were recovered from the spot. The accused were later arrested. The police also claimed that the pistols were recovered from the accused on the basis of their disclosure statements. After the completion of the investigation, a challan was presented on February 26, 2019.

Restaurant owner Gunkaran Singh filed a discharge application claiming he was not named in the complaint and was also not present at the spot.

His counsel Terminder Singh said the accused had directed his employees not to touch anything, which was placed on record.

Additional public prosecutor Ashok Rohila, while arguing the case for the prosecution, opposed the discharge application of the accused. The court has fixed December 1, 2021 as the next date of hearing in the case for the prosecution evidence.

Timeline

• The firing incident took place at F Bar and Restaurant on November 19, 2018. The UT police registered an FIR against five persons on November 20, 2018.
• As per the complaint, members of one of the groups had opened fire in which three youths of the other group suffered injuries.
• All accused involved in the firing case were later arrested and the police also recovered the weapon from which the gunshots were fired.