A week after the Azad Maidan riots, the crime branch has still notbeen able to recover a police weapon and cartridges, which were stolenby the rioters. Moreover, even the main conspirators of the“pre-planned” riots are yet to be identified. Citing these factors,the crime branch on Sunday sought further custody of 23 people arrested in connection with the riots.
The holiday court, presided over by magistrate N.L. Shende, extendedthe police custody of the 23 people till August 24.
While seeking an extension, the crime branch’s counsel S.K. More said, “It is a sensitive matter, and so the agency needs to work at its own pace to avoid loopholes in the case. Even the accused are not cooperating with the investigation.” He added, “The police is yet to recover its SLR, a gun magazine and some cartridges, which the rioters had stolen. More-over, the crime branch needs to track down the masterminds.” The crime bra-nch has concluded that the riots were planned and to support the claim, it has also collected CCTV footage of people carrying weapons and kerosene bottles. How-ever, the defence counsels opposed the extension of police custody.
Advocate Wahab Khan in his argument said, “The investigating agency has not come up witha single new evidence against the accused, apart from the arrest of Salim Chaukiya. My clients were not present at the scene when the riots broke. They were picked up by the police from their houses in the night.”