Police in Panchkula have booked Ranjit Bajaj, son of retired IAS officers Rupan Deol and BR Bajaj on the charge of attempting to murder Gurmohan Singh Bedi, son of former Punjab and Haryana High Court judge MMS Bedi.
Cops said the incident took place at 1.30am on Saturday in North Park Hotel, Panchkula, where St John's Old Boys' Association party was being organized.
Sources stated that the two of them had an altercation after the accused allegedly drove his Ford Ikon (CHN-1) over Gurmohan's feet.
Cops said that led to Ranjit and his security guards beating Gurmohan up and pointing their pistols at him. However, they fled when others started gathering there, cops added.
After Gurmohan's complaint, Panchkula police registered a case under sections 323 (voluntarily causing hurt), 506 (criminal intimidation), 307 (attempt to murder) and 295 A (deliberately hurting religious beliefs) of Indian Penal Code against the three alleged assailants.
Gurmohan received injuries on his head and face. He was discharged from Government Hospital, Sector 6, after a medical check up. Sources said Panchkula cops had conducted two raids at Ranjit's residence in Sector 16, Chandigarh, but he had not been found there.
The main accused has previously been booked in other criminal cases as well. In August 2009, he had allegedly beaten up two UT cops. In 2008 he was accused of taking drugs and arrested in connection with a car theft case in 2003.
But Ranjit Bajaj's friends have a totally different statement to offer. They alleged it was the ex-judge's son who was making obscene comments on the girls who were with Ranjit that led to the fracas.
This is the complaint that they have given to the police :
We, Henna Singh (D/o Ms. Navjeet Kaur, R/o House No. 1071, Sector 15, Chandigarh) and Pahul Ahluwalia (D/o Mr. Inderjeet Ahluwalia, R/o House No.3, Sector 16, Chandigarh), would like to register an official complaint against a guest (Ex- St. John's student) of the Sjoba Ball held at North Park In Panchkula on Januray 29,2010. His name is Gary Bedi (S/o Mr. M.M.S Bedi and R/o House No. 16, Sector 24, Chandigarh).
We had gone to attend the Sjoba Ball at North Park in Panchkula with Mr. Ranjit Bajaj (Sjoba member) and his driver, Mahender Singh (who does not possess a weapon which may be verified by your sources). We were honorary invitees by sjoba at the event. We arrived at the event at approximately 11-45 to 12 A.M. where we parked the car at the porch opposite the main entrance few steps away from the entry point for event. When we arrived we noticed Gary Bedi with a group of rowdy and unruly boys in the parking lot and they were consuming alcohol from the boot of their car which was parked in a public area from where all the lady guests had to pass to go to the bathroom. We were at the venue for about one hour during which we had our dinner and got ready to leave.
We exited the event around 1-30 AM to return home with a group of friends who have all witnessed the following to be true as it happened in front of their eyes. We noticed that the group (now larger and louder) were still drinking and had moved close to our car. The bar inside the event had shut down almost one and a half hours before that. But everyone in this group was still drinking. Our driver Mahender was assisting Ranjit to back the car out of the crowd porch area at which point Gary Bedi made an obscene comment saying “Ena vichon aaj raati koi vi le jani hai!” pointing towards us. Standing only 5-7 Ft away we went to sit in the car immediately to avoid trouble and requested Ranjit to get us out of the place as soon as possible. As the porch is a very small area the car had to be moved very slowly as there was lot of congestion of traffic, they kept making comments that cannot be mentioned here. But inspite of repeated polite requests by both the driver and Ranjit, Mr. stood right in the way of the car, making it impossible for us to leave and kept up his vulgar behavior. Upon this Ranjit got out of the car and Gary Bedi pushed him back. A scuffle broke out between them. Seeing this, all the people nearby tried to control him but he was too intoxicated and fell right there in the garden outside the porch and his turban fell off. He got more enraged and tried to attack Ranjit while shouting obscenities but once again lost his balance. His friends then tried to control him. Even his closest companion there told Ranjit to let it go as Gary Bedi was too drunk and apologized on his behalf in front of the entire crowd. A few boys came to our car after the brawl had been broken up and apologized to us on his behalf but Gary Bedi never showed any regret and was still shouting at the scene.
Not only are the undersigned the witnesses to his incident but also the security staff hired by Sjoba (event management) were witness to this event. Senior members of the Sjoba committee were also present there. They are all willing to testify to this fact.
We tried to lodge a complaint as soon as we left from there and we didn't know which jurisdiction North Park falls under. We first went to Sector 16, Panchkula and then to Sector 10- police station, where S.I. Surjit Singh convinced us that it was nothing to worry about and that we can send a proper complaint in the morning. To our horror, when Ranjit reached home, Gary Bedi had given his farther a false version and his father called up Ranjit's father and complained that Ranjit had not only hit his son but also tried to run him over with his car. Due to the cordial relationships between the two families he would let the incident slide. The police visited Ranjit's House at 6-30AM and once again at 11 AM later to look for a “gunman”.
We are the victims in this case and the police is being sent to the house of a person tried to protect us from a bunch of drunk and unruly men.
We did not want to create any trouble but since we are being harassed we must make sure that the true story is heard. We have over 2 dozen credible witnesses willing to come forward and testify to support us.
Please register a case against Gary Bedi based upon the above mentioned events.
Henna Singh
Pahul Ahluwalia
Ranjit Bajaj
