Court sends accused in minor's rape to police custody

The prime accused in the gang rape of a five-year-old in east Delhi, Manoj Kumar Sah, was remanded by a city court in five days of police custody on Thursday to confront him with co-accused Pradeep.

The prime accused in the gang rape of a five-year-old in east Delhi, Manoj Kumar Sah, was remanded by a city court in five days of police custody on Thursday to confront him with co-accused Pradeep.

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Additional Sessions Judge Sanjay Garg remanded Manoj, 22, in police custody till April 30. The probe agency said he had to be taken to his native place in Muzzafarpur, Bihar to recover the 'blood-stained clothes' he was wearing at the time of the crime. The police said they had to confront him with co-accused Pradeep to know the entire facts as well as to corroborate his version given to the investigators at the time of his arrest.

While seeking his five-day custody, the police said that they needed to find out the movement of the accused from the point they left Delhi and till Bihar.

"In view of the facts and circumstances of the case, the accused is remanded in five-day police custody," the court said.

During the proceedings, the police took Manoj's handwriting sample with the permission of the court to match it with the handwriting on a piece of paper recovered from Pradeep and allegedly given to him by Manoj with instructions to call him in two days, when they left Delhi and parted ways at Chhapra.

Manoj was produced before the court from judicial custody with his face covered amid high security. Meanwhile, after the court proceedings, when Manoj was being escorted out of the courtroom, he was all of a sudden made to sit for a while in the corridor. Upon inquiry, the police party said that the accused was feeling uneasy.