Haryana BJP President Subhash Barala's son Vikas Barala and his friend Ashish Kumar were on Wednesday arrested again by the Chandigarh Police after they were booked under the non-bailable sections of attempt to abduct and attempt to commit offence for stalking an IAS officer's daughter.
Both accused, who appeared before police on Wednesday afternoon, were interrogated by police officials for over two hours before being booked under Section 365 (kidnapping or abduction with intent to confine person) and Section 511 (attempt to commit offence punishable with life imprisonment).
"Following interrogation, new facts have emerged. We have decided to press two new charges. These are attempted abduction (sections 365 and 511). We have decided to arrest them," Chandigarh Director General of Police Tejinder Luthra told the media here.
"They will be produced in court tomorrow. We will seek police remand from the court. We have to confront them with various facts," Luthra said.
"The arrests and new charges are based on many new facts like legal opinion, new pieces of evidence in form of CCTV footage, statement of witnesses and map of the route," he said.
"There are many things in investigations that I cannot share with you. I will refrain from divulging very minute details at this stage."
He added: "There is no political pressure (on us). We are doing everything objectively, professionally and independently."
The incident of stalking happened on the night of August 4-5. The Chandigarh Police came under widespread criticism for allegedly favouring the accused who stalked and intimidated Varnika Kundu, 29, daughter of Haryana Additional Chief Secretary V.S. Kundu.
![](https://media.darpanmagazine.com/library/uploads/news/content/varnika-kundu1@#</div>
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both the accused arrived amid high drama at the sector 26 police station, in a ford endeavour suv, amid pouring rain.</div>
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the police threw an elaborate security ring in the police station complex to keep away congress and aap protesters as well as the media.</div>
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vikas and ashish had earlier in the day skipped police summons to join the probe. they were asked to appear before the police at 11 a.m. and only arrived around 2.30 p.m.</div>
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at his official residence, subhash barala left his press conference in a huff, purportedly fielding a phone call from his son, after tough media queries.</div>
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dgp luthra earlier told the media that the accused had refused to give their blood and urine samples to the doctor conducting their medical examination on saturday. </div>
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"the doctor on duty wanted to take the blood and urine samples, but the accused being law graduates knew the law too well. therefore, they refused to give their samples. however, such refusal can be held against them in the investigation and during the trial," he said.</div>
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"i assure you that everything under the sun will be done to ensure justice," said luthra, who came before the media for the first time in five days after the incident.</div>
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the ruling bharatiya janata party in haryana washed its hands off the high-profile accused.</div>
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"vikas (barala) and bjp are separate. the opposition parties are trying to mislead people by saying that the bjp is influencing the probe. we deny this. the bjp does not have anything to do with it," said haryana bjp spokesman jawahar yadav.</div>
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 of the ipc.</div>
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“it is a great development in the case. i wouldn’t say we have won. it is just the beginning. it is the first step. but it is a huge first step. my faith has been restored again. i had started sort of getting a little shaken but this is great, great news,” the 29-year-old said.</div>
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the fight has just begun, she said.</div>
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“if we continue this movement, not this case, this is just a part of it, if we continue this movement, cases like these will got a lot rare. we are the only ones who can change the country into safer and better place for women,” an emphatic kundu said.</div>
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asked about her next step, kundu said the police have done everything so far and she felt sure they would tell her when she needs to do.</div>
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her father, ias officer virender kundu said that his demand was that the accused in the case should be punished appropriately.</div>
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“whether he is arrested or not is really not of a great concern to me. my intention is not to get him arrested, my demand is that he be punished appropriately. so, i will be satisfied when that happens, whether it happens in a month, in two months, one year or two years, twenty years, whenever that happens, that is the time i will be satisfied,” the senior ias officer said, interacting with the media today.</div>
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he said that arrest of vikas barala is one small step in the right direction.</div>
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“so, one can presume that the investigating agencies are satisfied that vikas barala is guilty enough to be arrested as of now,” he said.</div>
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he added that it is a long process and this was just one small step, although a step in the right direction.</div>
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“in that sense we are happy. a lot of media had been saying that the police are not working very appropriately, well at least one step in the right direction has been taken,” he said.</div>
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to another question, the victim’s father said, “there was no instance yet” of any pressure from the family of the accused.</div>
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he expressed hope that they would get justice even though it was going to be a “protracted battle”.</div>
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“the struggle is going to be not of just these few days, though these few days are going to be critical from the point of view of investigation,” he said.</div>
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opposition parties had alleged earlier that the police was trying to shield vikas as he is from a politically connected family.</div>
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referring to the incident of alleged stalking which took place on intervening night of friday-saturday in which vikas (23) and his friend ashish kumar (27) are accused, the ias officer said, that at “the place where they (accused) were caught, we could smell from a distance that they were drunk.” </div>
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he said it was the responsibility of the police to gather all evidence in a fair and free manner. </div>.jpg)
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