Midnapore: A local court on Tuesday extended by a week the judicial custody of CPI(M) MLA and former minister Sushanta Ghosh in connection with the skeleton recovery case.
Ghosh was produced before the Chief Judicial Magistrate, Midnapore, Manoj Rai and was remanded to judicial custody for another seven days at the Midnapore Central Correctional Home.
The former minister, who was earlier remanded to judicial custody on August 20 for 10 days after CID custody, did not pray for bail.
He was taken into CID custody after his arrest on August 11 when his prayer for extension of anticipatory bail was rejected. It was extended by another four days on August 17. Ghosh, in a brief appearance before reporters, said he had been falsely accused and that the truth would prevail.
The MLA was arrested after the DNA of two missing Trinamool Congress supporters Ajoy Acharya and Swapan Singh, who were among seven allegedly abducted from Piyasala village on September 22, matched two of the seven skeletons dug up from a pit near Ghosh`s ancestral house at Benachapra on June 2.
On August 23, a fresh FIR was lodged against Ghosh and former party MP Lakshman Seth and 66 others at the Baratola police station at Khejuri in East Midnapore district, by the wife of a Trinamool Congress supporter who has been missing for the past 10 years. Anima Das filed the FIR claiming that a skeleton found during earthwork for the Bajkul Jaleswar Primary School on August 22, was that of her missing husband Subrata.
PTI