Police gets custody of Asaram's aide Niraj Kumar

A court here on Thursday granted custody of Niraj Kumar, a close aide of Asaram, to police in connection with a murder case.

Chief Judicial Magistrate Grima Choudhry allowed police to take Kumar, lodged in Deoband jail, in their custody on Friday in connection with Akhil Gupta murder case.

Asaram's aide will remain in police custody between 8 am and 8 pm during which they would take his help for recovering arms and other items allegedly used in the murder of Gupta, a witness in the rape case against Asaram.

According to senior prosecuter D C Shrivastava, police had on Wednesday sought custody of Kumar to recover arms and other items allegedly provided to the shooter Kartik Haldar, who was arrested by the STF of Gujarat in March.

Kumar was arrested in Saharanpur district in July.

35-year-old Gupta was shot at by unidentified persons on January 11 last year.

Subsequently, he was rushed to a nearby hospital where doctors declared him brought dead.

He was a cook and personal aide of Asaram who has been in jail since August 2013 for allegedly sexually assaulting a 16-year-old schoolgirl.