Chandigarh stalking case: Vikas Barala, Ashish Kumar sent to judicial custody till August 25

Haryana BJP chief Subhash Barala’s son Vikas and his friend Ashish Kumar, who are accused of chasing and stalking Varnika Kundu, the daughter of a senior IAS officer in a bid to kidnap her, were sent to judicial custody till August 25 on Saturday. Earlier, both the accused had been sent to the police remand for two days till August 12. On Thursday, defence counsel Surya Prakash Garg had pleaded “not guilty” for the accused. He told the court that “neither any kidnapping nor any molestation or any other offence was committed”, adding that the case was “just a media trial”. However, based on the public prosecutor’s plea, the court granted two-day police custody of the accused on grounds that they were needed to reconstruct the crime scene and establishing motive behind the crime. Subhash Barala, who held a press conference on Thursday, said police must take appropriate action against his son as per the law if he is named in the FIR. He refuted charges that the probe was influenced. Meanwhile, residents of Chandigarh held a march on Friday night in support of Varnika Kundu. Nearly 400 people joined the ‘Bekhauf Azaadi March’, meaning fearless freedom, spearheaded by theatre person Amy Singh to raise awareness on women’s safety.