Chandigarh Police on Monday said there were no CCTV footage of an incident involving Haryana BJP President Subhash Barala’s son who is accused of stalking the daughter of a senior IAS officer. Deputy Superintendent of Police Satish Kumar told the media that they tried to get CCTV footage from nine CCTV cameras along the route, from Sector 7 to Housing Board traffic light point, but all were found to be “non-functional”.

The route along which Vikas Barala and his friend Ashish Kumar stalked the victim, Varnika Kundu, daughter of Haryana Additional Chief Secretary V.S. Kundu, passes through some prominent and busy parts of Chandigarh including the Sector 26 Police Lines. The two accused were booked on Saturday. Both were apprehended from the Housing Board light point here and were said to be drunk. “It is strange that the CCTV cameras of such high-profile areas were not working. This seems to be a cover-up,” a junior police officer told IANS. The victim and her family have said they will fight the case to its “logical conclusion”.