Mumbai: The five guards of the Byculla women’s prison who were arrested on Saturday in connection with the death of inmate Manjula Shette, were on Sunday remanded in police custody till July 7.
The Crime Branch had on Saturday afternoon arrested Bindu Naikode, one of the six guards, while the remaining five, Manisha Pokharkar, Wazima Sheikh, Sheetal Shegavkar, Surekha Gulwe and Aarti Shingne, were placed under arrest late on Saturday night after being questioned at length. While Ms. Naikode was produced in the Esplanade Court on Saturday and remanded in police custody till July 7, the others were produced in a holiday court on Sunday afternoon.
“The court has remanded the five accused to our custody till July 7, and we are now interrogating all the six about the events on the day of Shette’s death. The claims made by inmate Mariam Sheikh, who is the complainant in the case, are being verified in the interrogation,” said an officer with the Mumbai Police Crime Branch.
The Crime Branch has also recorded a statement by Shette’s brother, Anand, who has told the police that his sister was hale and hearty when he met her around a month before her death, and that there was no way she could have died of natural causes. He has also said that she was getting as popular in the Byculla prison as she was in Yerawada jail before being transferred. The Hindu , on June 28, had reported how her growing popularity with the inmates had irked the guards, and that there was an ego tussle between Shette and them.
Shette is alleged to have been brutally assaulted in her barrack, after which she was allegedly stripped and a baton was shoved up her private parts. Post mortem reports have confirmed multiple injuries on her body, including her head, and a detailed post mortem report is awaited.
Her death on June 23 had sparked a riot in the prison, and the 200-odd inmates, which include Sheena Bora murder-accused Indrani Mukerjea, had destroyed prison property in the rampage that lasted till the next afternoon. While the six guards have been booked for murder under the Indian Penal Code, the police have also registered a separate FIR against the inmates for rioting.
