BJP MLA, two accomplices remanded in police custody for 14 days

Accordingly on Saturday afternoon, the police moved an application in court requesting to produce them through video-conferencing. The court, however, rejected the plea following which Ganpat Gaikwad, Kene and Sarvankar were physically produced before court.

The court initially asked the three accused whether they have any complaint against the police, to which Ganpat Gaikwad said, “Police are working under the pressure of the chief minister. My son was not at the spot of the firing incident, still he has been named as an accused in the case.”

“We did not conspire anything and if an MLA like me is being forced to take such a step, then one can understand what is the situation here,” he added.

The police subsequently sought 14 days custody of the three accused as they claimed that the incident has shaken the whole society due to which a detailed investigation has to be done.

“There is evidence, as he himself contacted the media after the incident. The audio has also gone viral now. We have to take voice samples of the accused and check whether it matches with the audio that went viral,” the police told the court on Saturday.

Opposing his police custody, defence lawyer Rahul Aarote told the court that for voice samples, they do not need their police custody. “Voice sample can also be collected in judicial custody,” Aarote said.

While the defence further informed the court that they have made an application asking for the CCTV footages of previous dates because people gathered there in the past on multiple occasions to sort out the land dispute.

“The MLA did not go to the police station to fire at someone, he went there to lodge a complaint,” the defence lawyers said.

Aarote also said that Section 307 (attempt to murder) does not apply in the case as there was no intention to kill anyone. “The police have not submitted any injury certificate along with the remand so it’s still not clear whether the bullets that were fired hit any of them,” the defence lawyers told the court on Saturday.

The police then informed the court that Mahesh Gaikwad has sustained six bullet injuries and is critical while Patil was shot twice by them.

Aarote further raised question on police’s fairness, as the CCTV footages of the police station that captured the firing incident were circulated and went viral. “What about CCTV footage? It is in everyone’s mobile phone,” the defence lawyer told the court.

After hearing both the sides, the court remanded the three accused in police custody till February 14.

At the time the three were being produced, the supporters of Ganpat Gaikwad started gathering outside the court and raised slogans in support of him.