BENGALURU: A city court on Thursday remanded the four accused arrested by the Special Investigation Team (SIT) in connection with the killing of journalist Gauri Lankesh to 14 days judicial custody. When they were produced before the court, Amol Kale, the alleged mastermind, alleged torture by the police. The police custody of the accused - Amol Kale alias Bhaisaab, Sujeet Kumar alias Praveen, Amit Degwekar alias Pradeep Mahajan and Manohar Edave alias Manoj - was extended by four days on Monday.
On Thursday, the SIT officials produced them before 1st Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate (ACMM) Judge, as the Judge of the 3rd ACMM court, who regularly hears the case, was away on official duty. N.P. Amrutesh, the advocate representing the accused, brought to the notice of the court that Kale was tortured by the police and called for a medical check-up to verify it. The magistrate told them to take up the matter in a regular court. However, the defence counsel requested the magistrate to personally examine the injuries.
The magistrate asked Kale to show the injuries he has sustained. Kale told the court, “Last night (Wednesday night) I was tortured by the police. They punched me below the left eye and banged my head into a wall. They have assaulted my on my legs and left palm”. The judge recorded his statement and asked the counsel to argue the matter in a regular court on Friday. Meanwhile, the family of the accused Kale and Edave got a chance to speak to the arrested for five minutes in the presence of SIT officials.
