Namdhari, Tyagi's judicial custody extended to December 27

 A court here Thursday extended, till December 27, the judicial custody of Sukhdev Singh Namdhari and his personal security officer (PSO) Sachin Tyagi, booked for the murder of Hardeep Singh, brother of slain liquor baron Ponty Chadha.

Metropolitan Magistrate Gaurav Rao sent Namdhari and his PSO Tyagi to judicial custody for another 14 days, after the Crime Branch of Delhi Police told their custody should be increased.

The court said: "Take them (Namdhari and Tyagi) to judicial custody till December 27."

Namdhari and Tyagi were produced before the court after expiry of their six days of judicial remand. The court had Dec 7 sent both to judicial custody after police said it does not need their further custody for interrogation.

During the hearing, Namdhari's counsel R.S. Malik sought a separate vehicle for his client for ferrying him between the court and jail. Malik said that when he was being brought to the court, other under-trials attacked and injured him today. The court kept his application pending.

Namdhari, a witness to the November 17 shoot-out at a farmhouse in south Delhi in which both the brothers were killed, has been booked under Section 302 (murder) of the Indian Penal Code for Hardeep's killing.

Sacked as chairman of the Uttarakhand Minorities Commission after the Chadha brothers' killings, he was arrested from his farmhouse in the hill state Nov 23.

According to police, Namdhari killed Hardeep November 17 in Chhattarpur in a shoot-out and the pistol used for the killing was seized.

Tyagi, an Uttarakhand Police constable, was arrested for his alleged role in the conspiracy that led to the murders last month.

He has been charged with criminal conspiracy and other offences, a police officer said.