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Chandigarh stalking: Confronted with CCTV footage, Vikas Barala admits he was driving the vehicle
Barala, who was driving the Tata Safari Storme with Ashish Kumar, 27, on the front seat, had chased Varnika Kundu for 20 minutes while she was on her way home to Panchkula on the intervening night of August 4 and 5.
Vikas Barala, the son of Haryana BJP’s chief, is learnt to have identified his vehicle and admitted that he was behind the wheel when police officials showed him surveillance footage from Friday night when he and an accomplice allegedly stalked a woman.
Barala, son of Subhash Barala, and Ashish Kumar were arrested for the second time on Wednesday for allegedly stalking and trying to kidnap 29-year-old Varnika Kundu, who was eventually rescued by a police team.
The attempted kidnapping charge was added to the case on Wednesday, after police was accused of going soft given the profile of the suspects.
They were set to be produced in court on Thursday.
According to sources in Chandigarh police, Barala said that it was him driving the Tata Safari Storme SUV while Kumar, 27, sat on the co-passenger seat as they chased Kundu for 20 minutes on Friday night.
Barala, the sources said, identified his vehicle in footage recovered from CCTV camera along the stretch.
The two were detained shortly after the incident but given bail by police since the case did not initially include the more serious abduction-attempt charge.
POLICE STATION IN LOCKDOWN
The Sector 26 police station Chandigarh, where Barala has been detained, was out of bounds as officials restricted entry since Wednesday evening.
The station’s gates have been closed with a heavy deployment of guards constables.
SSP Eish Singhal came to the police station in the morning on Thursday to supervise the questioning of Barala and his friend Ashish.
