India News | 2-day Police Custody for BJP Leader Held for Shooting Dead Man in UP's Ballia

Ballia (UP), Oct 21 (PTI) A Ballia court on Wednesday remanded BJP leader Dhirendra Pratap Singh, arrested for allegedly shooting dead a man in Durjanpur village of the district during the allotment of a ration shop, in police custody for two days.

Chief Judicial Magistrate Ramesh Kushwaha remanded Singh in police custody to enable the police to recover the murder weapon, a country-made pistol, from the accused and for his custodial interrogation as part of the ongoing probe into the case.

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CJM Kushwaha handed over the BJP leader's custody to police taking note of his confession that he had shot dead Jaiprakash Pal in the presence of civil and police officials during the allotment process of a subsidised ration shop in Durjanpur village under Reoti police station area.

The court, however, remanded Singh in police custody for only two days, rejecting the prosecution demand for seven-day custody.

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The court remands the accused in police custody from 10 am on Thursday till 10 am Saturday, said the court.

Singh is presently lodged in Ballia jail under judicial custody following his arrest by Lucknow STF on Sunday.

While remanding Singh to police custody, the court rejected the defence counsel Harivansh Singh's argument that his client had not made any confession to the police and the police is seeking his custody to further implicate him in the case.

But the court rejected the argument saying that as per judicial precedents, the police cannot be denied the custody of the accused on the basis of his claims in the court.

Citing the police remand application that was filed by Reoti SHO Praveen Kumar Singh, the court said the accused had told the police that he had concealed the murder weapon at such a place that he alone could get it recovered.

The accused is also needed to be interrogated by the police to find out who gave shelter to Singh when he fled after committing the crime.

While allowing Singh's police custody, the court ordered police to get the accused medically examined before taking him into its custody from Ballia district jail.

The court also warned police against meting out any inhuman treatment to Singh and allowed him to have his counsel accompany him to watch the police proceeding from a distance.

The Ballia police, meanwhile, on Wednesday, arrested a close relative Dharmendra Singh of BJP leader Singh for his alleged involvement in the crime.

Reoti SHO Praveen Singh said Dharmendra Singh is not named as an accused in the FIR but is suspected to be involved in the crime.

The SHO said the FIR in the murder case was lodged against seven to eight named accused and 20 to 25 unknown persons.

Meanwhile, state chief of Karni Sena Pradeep Singh was stopped in Azamgarh from coming to Ballia, following which Karni Sena workers staged a protest at Phephana crossing in Ballia. District Magistrate H P Shahi and Superintendent of Police Devendra Nath reached the spot.

After this, the protestors submitted a letter to the officials, and called off their protests. Vehicular movement was disrupted for a long time because of the stir.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)