BSP MP, wife sent to judicial custody in maid murder case
BSP MP Dhananjay Singh and his wife Jagriti, arrested in connection with the murder of their maid, were on Monday remanded to four-day judicial custody by a court in New Delhi after the Delhi Police said they are waiting for some reports and will confront the accused with them later.
Mr. Dhananjay, BSP MP from Jaunpur constituency in Uttar Pradesh, and Ms. Jagriti, a dental surgeon at the R M L Hospital, were produced before Metropolitan Magistrate Gomati Manocha on expiry of their five days’ police custody.
Mr. Dhananjay and Ms. Jagriti were arrested on November 5 in connection with the death of their 35-year-old maid Rakhi Bhadra, a resident of West Bengal.
The police moved an application seeking four-day judicial custody of both the accused saying their further police custody may be required to confront them with Digital Video Recorders (DVRs) which have been sent to forensic science laboratory (FSL) in Rohini here for examination as well as for expert opinion.
Additional Public Prosecutor Mukul Kumar told the court that the forensic experts require some time to retrieve the data of DVRs, which were provided by Mr. Dhananjay to the police, and they might take custody of the accused later on to confront them with the reports and opinions.
The magistrate allowed the police’s plea and sent both the accused to judicial custody till November 15.
During the proceedings, Mr. Dhananjay moved an application seeking bail and the court directed the police to file its response on November 15, the date on which it will hear the plea.
The prosecutor told the court that at this stage, the accused need to be sent to judicial custody as some more evidence will be collected during this period.
Senior advocate Hariharan, who appeared for Mr. Dhananjay, claimed nothing has surfaced in the five days of police custody and the police are now seeking to send his client in judicial custody in anticipation that they might get something during this period.
The prosecutor countered the submissions of Mr. Dhananjay’s counsel saying “we can confront accused with the FSL reports when they will be received.”
The magistrate also pointed out to the defence counsel that it is not “anticipation” as the FSL report is awaited.
Regarding MR. Dhananjay’s bail application, the court asked Mr. Hariharan whether he wanted to press it at this stage or at a later stage.
“You want to press the bail application at this stage. I think it’s too early keeping in view that the investigation is at a preliminary stage… You can file or press it at a later stage,” the magistrate said.
Mr. Hariharan said if police would file its reply to it, then they will press their application. At this stage, the prosecutor said they need at least a day’s time to file their response, after which the court fixed it for November 15.
During the hearing, Ms. Jagriti’s counsel Pankaj Kumar told the court that his client is in “acute mental depression” and the investigating officer should have said this to the court.
He referred to media reports and claimed that his client is suffering from “bouts of uncontrolled behaviour“.
The court, however, told him to produce relevant medical documents in this regard before it.
The prosecutor too told the court that as of now Jagriti is medically fit and her counsel should not go with media reports.
Mr. Dhananjay’s counsel also pressed his application filed earlier seeking to preserve the call details records of two mobile numbers used by the MP and also the mirror image of the DVRs.
