J&K ex-minister, aide sent to judicial custody till May 15
JAMMU: Special judge of the NIA court, Jammu, Sunit Gupta on Saturday refused further police remand of former minister Jatinder Singh alias Babu Singh and his close aide Mohammad Shareef Shah in the alleged Hawala racket and remanded them to judicial custody till May 15.
Accordingly, both of them were shifted to high security Kot Bhalwal jail till May 15.
Leading high court lawyer Aseem Sawhney, who appeared on behalf of Babu Singh and Shah, said, “The court granted month-long judicial remand of former minister Babu Singh and Mohammad Shareef Shah till May 15.”
He said that both the accused were remanded to Kot Bhalwal Jail on the outskirts of Jammu city.
While Shah was physically present in the court, Babu Singh could not be produced because of his broken limb.
“On April 11, the last date of hearing, the former minister was complaining of pain in his foot and the court had directed a medical checkup,” said Sawhney. The police had on Saturday sought judicial remand of both the accused and the court, while considering the nature of crime as ‘heinous’, remanded them to one-month judicial custody. On April 11, a fast-track court had sent former Congress minister and his close aide to five-day police remand.
Presiding officer of the fasttrack court Khalil Choudhary (having charge of special judge NIA) had granted the police remand whose deadline ceased on Saturday.
The court had passed the order following an application filed on Monday by subdivisional police officer of Gandhi Nagar police station DSP Sachit Sharma.
In the application, the police had sought the remand Shah of Kokernag in Anantnag and Jatinder Singh of ward number 1 in Kathua town for a period of 10 days. The police had produced CD file before the court to seek 10-day police remand.
Shah and Babu Singh were booked under FIR number 73/2022 for the commission of offence under Sections 17/18 of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act at the Gandhi Nagar police station.