Police remand extended for three Udaipur murder accused

Jaipur: A court here has extended the police custody of three of the seven men accused in the Udaipur murder case up to Saturday and sent the remaining four to judicial custody till August 1.

All seven accused were produced by the National Investigation Agency before the designated NIA court amid tight security on Tuesday.

The men remanded to further NIA custody include Riaz Akhtari and Ghouse Mohammad, who allegedly killed Kanhaiya Lal, a tailor, with a cleaver on June 28, saying they were avenging an insult to Islam.

Farhad Mohammad Sheikh, described by the NIA as their close criminal associate and the last man to be arrested so far in the case, was also remanded to further police custody.

"The court extended the remand of Ghouse Mohammad, Riaz and Farhad till July 16. They will be under NIA custody whereas the four other accused were sent to jail till August 1," special public prosecutor T P Sharma said.

The court had earlier remanded the accused to police custody till July 12, Sharma said.

Both Akhtari and Ghouse Mohammad were caught in Rajsamand hours after the crime. By then, they had posted on social media a grisly video of the murder.