A day after he was arrested for stalking and trying to kidnap an IAS officer's daughter in Chandigarh last week, Vikas Barala confessed to having driven his SUV on the same route where the alleged crime took place.
The son of Haryana BJP?chief Subhash Barala, who was arrested along with his friend Ashish Kumar, however, said in a local court on Thursday that they did not know the victim before.
Vikas, 23, and Ashish, 27, were hustled into the court amid heavy security even as they struggled to hide their faces from the media. The court sent the two in two days of police remand till August 12.
He also confessed that they had bought beer bottles from Sector 8 and drove towards Sector 26, also corroborated by CCTV footage, but denied any attempt to kidnap the woman. Barala's counsel argued that the accused have been co-operating with the police, but the court allowed the plea for custody for further investigation. They had been arrested soon after the incident on August 4 but were let off on bail hours later, amid allegations by the Congress that both BJP-ruled governments at the Centre and in Haryana were trying to dilute the probe. The charge of kidnapping attempt was added on Wednesday. It's is a non-bailable offence, and the two now face up to seven years in jail.
Barala's counsel Surya Prakash said the charge of kidnapping attempt was added by the police due to media pressure and was based on the 'victim's apprehensions'.
NEED TO KNOW
- The accused were arrested on August 4, on charges of stalking. Cellphone locations of the two accused have also corroborated the allegations that the accused were allegedly chasing the victim’s car on the night of the incident, the police said.
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