New Delhi: A Delhi court on Thursday remanded five accused, arrested for allegedly murdering a 29-year-old youth from Manipur, in 14 days judicial custody.
"I have gone through the application seeking grant of 14 days judicial custody of all the accused and in accordance with the facts and circumstances of the case, all the accused are remanded in judicial custody till August 7," Metropolitan Magistrate Ashok Kumar said.
The court also allowed the plea of counsel for accused Rajiv seeking directions to the police to keep in safe custody the CCTV footage of the incident and not to tamper with it as it stands to be material evidence on record.
"Directions are issued to the SHO of Kotla Mubarakpur Police Station to keep the relevant CCTV footage in safe custody," the magistrate said.
Accused Lokesh Bhadana, who was earlier absconding and arrested by Delhi Police yesterday evening, was produced before the court.
The other four accused -- Shakti Basoya (21), his cousin Sanjay Basoya (24), Rajiv (25) and Azad Chaudhary -- were produced before the court after expiry of their police custody.
All the accused were produced in the court amid tight security.
Earlier, police had said in the court that the assault was captured on CCTV cameras installed in South Delhi`s Kotla Mubarakpur area, which showed one of the men wrapping a cloth around victim Akha Salouni`s neck and swinging him around in the air.
It had said that the youths then pinned down the victim on the floor and showered blows and kicks on him. All the accused were booked under Section 302 (murder) of the IPC and various provisions of the Scheduled Castes/Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act.
Salouni was attacked when he along with two friends, Dihe Kazhiihrii (25), a resident of Manipur, and Nagendra Sharma (40), a native of Bihar, went to Masoodpur Colony to attend a party at a friend`s place.
Following the party, they had hired an auto to drop Kazhiihrii at his home at Kotla Mubarakpur. When the auto reached near Gurudwara road, a car arrived from behind and started honking continuously, police had said.
The car occupants abused the auto driver, following which an argument ensued between Salouni and his friends and the five youths.
The argument soon turned ugly following which five youths, all of whom were apparently in an inebriated state, alighted from the car and attacked the three. While Kazhiihrii and Sharma managed to flee, Salouni was caught by them, police had said.
Kazhiihrii called the police around 3:30 AM, after which a team reached the spot and rushed Salouni, who was unconscious, to AIIMS trauma centre where doctors declared him brought dead.
