BENGALURU: Following the request from the prosecution, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) Special Court on Wednesday extended the judicial custody of 10 people accused of murdering Bajrang Dal activist Harsha to 180 days.
The NIA has arrested 10 people in connection with Harsha’s murder in Shivamogga and they are in judicial custody since February 21. Their custody of 90 days was supposed to end on May 21. As the NIA is yet to complete the probe, the prosecution had moved a petition seeking further extension of the custody for another 90 days as per the provisions made under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act.
The prosecution stated that the test identification parades of the accused are yet to be done by the witnesses, forensic examination report of the electronic gadgets seized from the accused needs to be obtained from Regional FSL in Hubballi and it has to be analysed.
Further, the prosecution submitted that the persons whom the accused persons met and the persons who were in contact with them, based on the call details report, before and after the offence, need to be examined.Allowing the petition, the court opined that there are sufficient grounds to extend the judicial custody of the accused persons for a period up to 180 days from 90 days.