Varnika Kundu stalking case: Court frames charges against Vikas Barala, Ashish Kumar

The accused in police custody. Express Archives

A court on Friday framed criminal charges of stalking, wrongful restraint and abduction bid against Vikas Barala, son of Haryana BJP chief Subhash Barala, and his friend Ashish Kumar in the Varnika Kundu stalking case. The two accused were present when charges were framed by the court of Judicial Magistrate First Class (JMFC) Barjinder Pal Singh. Later, copies of the charges were also handed over to them.

The victim, Varnika Kundu, daughter of a senior IAS officer of Haryana cadre, Virender Kundu, was not present during the court proceedings. The next date of hearing is October 27. On October 11, although the defence counsel for Barala and Kumar had argued for removing the charges of abduction bid stating that it was merely a case of stalking, the prosecution contended that the victim’s car was repeatedly followed and one of the accused even banged on the door of her car.

Vikas and Ashish were arrested when Varnika, a resident of Sector 6 in Panchkula, lodged a complaint with the Chandigarh Police alleging that she was stalked and the accused made an attempt to kidnap her on August 4. The two were also found drunk during their medical examination and the police slapped Section 185 of the Motor Vehicle (MV) Act on the two. Later, the two were released on bail.

Initially, the Chandigarh Police had not applied charges of abduction bid against the two accused. Charges of abduction bid were added later and the two accused were again arrested on August 9. Since then, the two have been lodged at Model Burail Jail and their bail applications have been dismissed by the local court twice. Barala had applied for bail independently but it was also rejected. A chargesheet against the two was filed in the district courts on September 22.