Main accused sent to five-day remand

Maruti worker Jiya Lal, the main accused in the July 18 arson at the auto maker's Manesar plant, was on Thursday sent to police custody for five days by a local court, police said.

Maruti worker Jiya Lal, the main accused in the July 18 arson at the auto maker's Manesar plant, was on Thursday sent to police custody for five days by a local court, police said. He was presented before judicial magistrate Sandeep Yadav after his arrest on Wednesday from Dharuhera in Rewari district of Haryana, around 40 km away from Gurgaon.

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Jiya Lal was suspended after he allegedly slapped supervisor Ramkishore Manjhi on July 18. The police had sought a 10-day remand stating, they needed time to visit places the main accused visited while he was on the run.

The police need to recover articles used by him on the crime scene, such as metal car door frames, clothes and identity cards.

The police said that Jiya Lal went as far as Jaipur, Haridwar, Ludhiana and Beas in Punjab to evade arrest.

The judge, however, overruled the contention, saying the accused will not carry heavy metal door frames to such far-off places and granted only five days’ police remand. The plant, which has two production lines assembling some 1,200 cars a day, was shut following the violence that claimed the life of Maruti’s senior executive Awanish Kumar Dev and left nearly 100 others injured.

Maruti Suzuki India Limited (MSIL) declared a lockout in the plant on July 21.

Meanwhile, the terror-struck managers, supervisors and engineers at Maruti Suzuki’s Manesar plant have been attending meditation and spiritual classes at the Brahma Kumari Om Shanti Retreat Centre (ORC) since July 30.

ORC members have also delivered discourses for the workers, who were arrested on the first day of the attack, in Gurgaon jail.