Mountview hit-and-run case: Charges framed against music video producer

A local court on Wednesday framed charges against the Bathinda-based Punjabi music video producer who left a 75-year-old businessman dead in a hit-and-run outside

A local court on Wednesday framed charges against the Bathinda-based Punjabi music video producer who left a 75-year-old businessman dead in a hit-and-run outside Hotel Mountview in Sector 10 in August 2017.

Harjasneet Chahal, 27, of Bathinda faces upto 10 years in jail, if convicted.

Accused Harjasneet Chahal, 27, who had surrendered in court in March after the Supreme Court rejected his anticipatory bail plea, has been charged under Sections 279 (rash driving), 304 (culpable homicide not amounting to murder) and 304A (causing death by negligence) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).

Case so far

August 6, 2017: Subodh Kumar Gupta, 75, a resident of Sector 4, killed in hit-and-run outside Hotel Mountview

August 7: SUV driver Harjasneet Chahal traced to Bathinda and arrested for causing death by negligence, gets bail

September: After victim’s family demands strict action, non-bailable section added to FIR; accused eludes arrest

December 12: HC rejects Chahal’s anticipatory bail plea

January 14, 2018: UT police announces a reward of ₹25,000 on Chahal

March 19: Supreme Court rejects anticipatory bail plea

March 22: Chahal surrenders

The next date of hearing is September 12. If convicted, he faces up to 10 years jail.

It was on August 6, 2017, that Subodh Kumar Gupta, 75, a resident of Sector 4, was killed after Chahal’s SUV hit him in Sector 10. Chahal was initially booked under Section 304A of the IPC.

The incident was recorded on a closed-circuit television (CCTV) camera installed near the spot. The UT police traced and arrested the accused two days later from Bathinda. However, he was released on bail as the sections imposed on him were bailable.

Meanwhile, the victim’s family approached police demanding strict action against Chahal.

Section 304-II of the IPC, which is a non-bailable offence, was added to the FIR in September, but the accused kept eluding arrest.

The UT police in January had also announced a reward of ₹25,000 on Chahal after the Punjab and Haryana high court rejected his bail application on December 12, 2017, and non-bailable warrants were issued against him.

Chahal even moved the Supreme Court, but when his plea was dismissed, he finally surrendered on March 22.

Upon surrendering, he had said: “I was availing legal remedies available by law, and after the Supreme Court had denied the bail to me, I have surrendered in three days.”

The victim’s family had been campaigning for justice all this while.