No relief for six arrested in Manju Shetye murder case

Mumbai: The six accused arrested in connection with the death of Byculla jail inmate Manju Shetye have approached the Sessions court, seeking bail. The court today adjourned the hearing of the bail application till August 4.

The Crime Branch has arrested Manisha Pokh-arkar, Wasima Shaikh, Shital Shegokar, Surekha Gulve, Aarti Shingne and Bindu Naikade for their alleged role in the death of a 38-year-old life convict of a murder case.

Advocate Pankaj Bafna on behalf of all these accused filed the application seeking bail on the ground that they have little children to look after and so should be granted bail. According to him, their custody is not required anymore for further investigation, so they should be released on bail. Advocate Bafna would also be relying on the statement of police made before the Bombay high court in which they have said that Manju died after she fell down and it was an accidental death.

It is further claimed that there are contradiction in claims of inmates and police probe because the police have not found any substance in the claim that iron rods were inserted in Shetye’s private part. It is also pointed out that the complainant and other inmates are continuously changing statement.

It may be recalled that the Byculla jail on June 23, witnessed violence between prisoners and jail officials after an inmate, Shetye died due to alleged torture at the hands of prison authorities. On one hand, the inmates have claimed that Shetye died due to a brutal beating by the jail officials on the other, prison authorities have claimed that she fell unconscious and died due to falling.