Bijlani sent to judicial custody
One of the key accused in the Navi Mumbai builder Sunil Kumar Lohariya murder case, builder Suresh Bijlani, was sent to judicial custody by a Navi Mumbai court on Monday. The decision comes despite the Mumbai police officials informing the court that Bijlani was not cooperating with the investigation. The crime branch has now decided to appeal against the decision in the higher court.
Bijlani, who had been on the run for the past five months before he surrendered before the Thane sessions court on July 22, was produced in Vashi court on Monday. “To seek extension of his custody, we strongly mentioned in the grounds for remand that the accused was not cooperating in the probe. He did not even reveal anything about the other absconding accused Anurag Garg,” said a crime branch official. However, the court refused to give us further custody and sent him in to judicial remand instead, the officer added. Additional CP (crime), Niket Kaushik confirmed that Bijlani had been sent to judicial custody and said, “We will appeal against this in the higher court.”
In another development, the Bombay high court on Monday granted bail to Sumit Bacchewar, developer and another accused in the murder case on the grounds that the statement given by Lohariya in his dying declaration where he reportedly uttered the name of the accused, and the same put forth by his son, was on the basis of suspicion.
Justice A.M. Thipsay said, “Suspicion, however genuine, can’t be substituted for facts. It’s not necessary to dig deeper into the case as far as the probe by the investigating agency is concerned. The investigating agency was well aware that the utterances were nothing but Lohariya’s suspicion, and merely on suspicion the accused cannot be detained till completion of trial.”
Bachewar’s defense counsel Vinod Gupta had argued that Lohariya was murdered on February 16 and the FIR was lodged the same day. However, Lohariya’s son gave a statement about Bacchewar only on February 24.
The court also observed that even if Bachewar was in touch with Lohariya, it couldn’t be construed as a factual basis.
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