After spending two days in police remand in the Varnika Kundu stalking case, Haryana Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) chief Subhash Barala’s son Vikas and his friend Ashish Kumar, on Saturday refused to apply for bail and were sent to 14-day judicial custody.
The counsel for both the accused, Surya Prakash told The Statesman that so far Barala and Kumar’s families have instructed him to not to apply for the bail as the family members are fully confident that they were wrongly implicated in the case.
“Already, the investigation, in this case, has been hyped so much and the family members of Vikas and Ashish do not want to leave an impression that they are getting involved in this to influence in the investigation. I have been asked not to apply for the bail as the family members believe that their boys would walk out clean as what has been alleged in the entire incident was never happened. So far, I am asked to not to go for bail and let the investigation go on to bring out the truth,” he added.
After two-day police remand, Vikas Barala and his friend Ashish were produced before the Duty Magistrate Gaurav Dutta where the duo was sent to judicial custody till August 25.Both were arrested for chasing and stalking a girl Varnika Kundu, daughter of senior Haryana IAS officer VS Kundu in Mani Majra area of Chandigarh.
The victim, 29-year-old Varnika Kundu, had alleged that on the intervening night of August 4 and 5 Vikas and Ashish chased her, blocked her way, hit on her car window and tried to force her door open. Initially, they FIR was registered against them under section 354 D (stalking) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and section 185 of the Motor Vehicle Act (driving by a drunken person or by a person under the influence of drugs), Section 365 (attempting abduction of kidnapping) and 511 (attempt to commit an offence) of the IPC.
However, later on, the Chandigarh police allegedly invoked the IPC sections 365 and 511 against the accused and granted them bail without producing them in court.  Though, all this led huge outrage with many political parties and social activists protesting in support of Varnika Kundu and seeking strict action against the accused Vikas and Ashish. Under pressure from the people, the Chandigarh cops arrested them again on August 9, in addition of slapping kidnapping charges on them.
They were produced before the court on August 10 where they were sent to two-day police remand. The entire episode has also brought huge embarrassment for the BJP also with opposition parties raising the issue right from Chandigarh to Parliament in Delhi seeking the resignation of Barala from party’s Haryana unit presidentship. Police sources said during interrogation, both the accused denied if they stalked or tried to abduct the disc jockey (Kundu).