By IANS
New Delhi : A city court Friday remanded Uttar Pradesh mafia don Brijesh Singh, wanted in several cases of murder, to police custody till Feb 4.
Brijesh was arrested from Bhubaneswar by the Special Cell of Delhi Police Wednesday and was produced before the city court to seek his custody for interrogation in a case of extortion registered here.
Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate (ACMM) Sanjeev Jain remanded Singh to police custody for 12 days turning down the prosecution plea for 14 days’ custody.
“You (police) should have taken the remand from chief judicial magistrate (CJM) Orissa Thursday, there was no need to bring him here when only one case is pending against him in Delhi,” said the judge.
During the police custody, Singh will be taken to Bhubaneswar, Cuttack and Chhattisgarh for interrogation in 23 other cases pending against him in various states outside Delhi.
Singh is accused of demanding Rs.5 million in ransom from a business rival.Delhi Police had registered the case in Oct 2007 at Lodhi Colony police station.
However, the court rapped the police for giving misleading quotes that Singh has been wanted by the Delhi Police for last three years.
“You are misleading the court and the people. When you (police) have registered the case last year only, then what’s the point in giving such statements in the media that you (police) were after him for the past three years?” questioned the judge.
Additional public prosecutor Rajeev Mohan, however, requested the court not to disclose the name of the complainant of the case against Singh as the complainant is facing threat to his life.
Appearing for Singh, counsel R.K. Naseem pleaded to the court to allow Sigh’s relatives to meet him. The court turned down the plea, but allowed Singh’s lawyer to talk to him once a day for 10 minutes by phone.
Singh, allegedly involved in over 100 killings, was arrested in Bhubaneswar after he successfully eluded the police for 20 years.
The police said he was living in the Orissa capital for the past few years and had obtained a fake passport in the name of Arun Kumar. The don allegedly shared a close relationship with underworld gangster Dawood Ibrahim.