Nashik court extends police custody of four accused in TCS-linked BPO case

The prosecution argued that they need access to the passwords of the laptops provided to the accused by the company, and therefore their custody is required

A court in Nashik on Wednesday extended the police custody of four accused arrested in the alleged sexual exploitation and religious coercion case linked to a Tata Consultancy Services (TCS)-associated BPO till May 2.

The arrests were made in connection with a complaint filed by a male co-worker, who alleged that the accused had hurt his religious sentiments and forced him to consume non-vegetarian food. (REPRESENTATIVE PHOTO)

The special investigation team (SIT) had arrested Danish Sheikh, Tausif Attar, Shahrukh Qureshi and Raza Memon on April 23. The arrests were made in connection with a complaint filed by a male co-worker, who alleged that the accused had hurt his religious sentiments and forced him to consume non-vegetarian food. Following their arrest, the court had initially remanded the four accused to five days of police custody.

Special public prosecutor Ajay Misar told the court that the SIT required further custodial interrogation of the accused as part of the ongoing investigation.

“The investigation is still underway and we need to question all four accused further,” Misar submitted before the court.

Defence counsel Baba Sayeed opposed the prosecution’s plea seeking an extension of police custody.

“The prosecution argued that they need access to the passwords of the laptops provided to the accused by the company, and therefore their custody is required. However, we pointed out before the court that the accused have already remained in police custody for more than 15 days in connection with other cases. There is no need for further police remand in this matter,” Sayeed said.