CCTV footage nails Vikas, Ashish, duo caught purchasing alcohol before 'stalking' Varnika

CCTV shows Vikas Barala and his friend Ashish Kumar buying alcohol before stalking Varnika Kundu.

Chandigarh, August 11: The two accused--Vikas Barala, the son of Haryana Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) chief, Subhash Barala, and his friend Ashish Kumar--in the infamous Chandigarh stalking case are in more trouble.

Now, a CCTV footage, dated August 4 (before the crime took place), has emerged which clearly shows that the accused men were purchasing alcohol from a store before chasing down Varnika Kundu on the intervening night of August 4 and August 5.

The footage shows Vikas and Ashish buying alcohol from a shop located in Chandigarh sector 9.

The latest evidence strengthens the 29-year-old DJ's claim that the duo were allegedly in an inebriated state while they chased her for seven-eight kilometers when she was driving back home in her car from Chandigarh to Panchkula.

The two accused were arrested for the second time on Wednesday after police filed abduction charges against Vikas and Ashish. On Thursday, a Chandigarh court sent Vikas and his friend to two-day police custody.

On the day of the crime too, Vikas and his friend were arrested on the charges of drunken driving, stalking and harassing Varnika in Chandigarh. However, within a few hours they were granted bail.

After public outcry, following Varnika and her father Virender Kundu, an Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer, wrote in detail about the ordeal on social media, police woke up from its slumber to pursue the matter seriously.

A notice was issued to both the accused under 160 Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) and the case has been filed under Section 354D (stalking), 341 (wrongful restraint), 34 (common intention) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and 185 MV Act (driving by a drunken person or by a person under the influence of drugs).

Director General of Police Chandigarh Tajender Singh Luthra said that Vikas and his friend Ashish were slapped with charges of abduction.

Luthra added that both the accused in the Chandigarh stalking case had refused to give their blood and urine sample for the investigation, spurring doubts about them being possibly drunk.

"The duty doctor did want to take the blood and urine sample, but the accused are law graduates, they knew the law very well. Therefore, they refused to give the blood and urine sample," DGP Luthra told the reporters.

OneIndia News