Fresh warrant issued for Manoj Sah in girl rape case

A Delhi court today issued fresh warrant for producing before it Manoj Sah, the main accused in the gangrape of five-year-old girl in east Delhi.

Manoj was not produced before the court today as the warrant issued yesterday could not be served to authorities in Tihar jail where the culprit has been lodged in judicial custody after he was brought from Muzaffarpur in Bihar.

Metropolitan Magistrate Rakesh Kumar, who was presiding as duty magistrate because of holiday, asked the Tihar Jail authorities to produce him tomorrow before the concerned court.

The Investigating Officer in the case told the magistrate that the warrant issued yesterday could not be served upon the jail authorities.

"Production warrant against accused Manoj be issued for tommorow. The accused to be produced before the concerned court," the magistrate said, directing the court staff to positively dispatch the warrant.

On the court's query about the progress in the investigation, the IO said police required Manoj's custody for linking the evidence gathered so far.

The police needs Manoj's custody to confront him with co-accused Pradeep, to recover the mobile phones used by them during the relevant time period and also to unearth the chain of events.

During the proceedings, the magistrate questioned the presence of SHO of Pandav Nagar Police Station in the court when the incident had happened in Gandhi Nagar area.

"Due to some departmental problem, I have been asked to assist the IO," the SHO informed the court.