Garhwal Post Bureau
DEHRADUN, 11 Jul: A Dehradun court has rejected the bail applications of two accused in the murder case of retired Brigadier Mukesh Joshi, who was killed after being caught in a shootout between two rival groups in the Rajpur area earlier this year.
The District and Sessions Court, Dehradun, dismissed the bail pleas of Aditya Chaudhary and Samir Chaudhary in connection with a crime that took place on the morning of March 30 at Johri village on Mussoorie Road.
Mukesh Joshi, 74, a resident of Tula Apartment, was on his routine morning walk when he was struck by a stray bullet during a gunfight between two groups engaged in a high-speed car chase. He succumbed to the bullet injury.
According to the investigating officer, Sub-Inspector Pravesh Rawat, the police had filed a chargesheet before the court in June, naming nine accused in the case. Besides Aditya Chaudhary and Samir Chaudhary, those charge sheeted are Mohammad Akhlaq, Rohit Kumar Singh, Mohit Arora, Adesh Giri, Shantanu Tyagi, Kavish Hussain Tyagi and Vaibhav Kumar. The chargesheet also lists 32 prosecution witnesses.
The investigation revealed that the dispute originated late on the night of March 29 at the Gen-Z nightclub, where Aditya Chaudhary and his associates allegedly had an altercation with members of the club staff. Following the confrontation, club employees, including Rohit Kumar, Mohammad Akhlaq and others, allegedly damaged the windows of Chaudhary’s newly purchased Scorpio SUV, which was reportedly being driven without a registration plate.
Police said that after leaving the nightclub, Aditya Chaudhary and his associates allegedly waited nearby with the intention of retaliating. When the club employees left the premises in a Fortuner SUV the following morning, they were allegedly chased by the Scorpio carrying Chaudhary and his associates.
During the pursuit, Shantanu Tyagi, an associate of Aditya Chaudhary, allegedly opened fire at the Fortuner in an attempt to stop it, leading to an exchange of gunfire between the two groups. Retired Brigadier Joshi, who happened to be passing through the area during his morning walk, was caught in the crossfire and fatally injured.
The police have invoked charges of murder under the relevant provisions of Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) in the case.
