Three sent to jail over Nido Tania's killing

A court here Tuesday sent three people, arrested in connection with the death of a student from Arunachal Pradesh, to judicial custody till Feb 18. Two of the accused said they were "innocent witnesses" who were "illegally roped in as accused".

Metropolitan Magistrate Pawan Kumar remanded Sunder Singh, Pawan Farmania and Farman to judicial custody till Feb 18.

Nido Tania, the 19-year-old student, was beaten up by shopkeepers in south Delhi's Lajpat Nagar area following a quarrel over his appearance and clothing. He died in a hospital Jan 30.

The three accused have been booked under the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act.

The court listed the matter for bail hearing Feb 6 and instructed police to conduct a test identification parade of the accused on the same day.

During investigation, six people, out of whom two are juveniles, were found to be involved in the case, police said Monday.

Police told the magistrate that they have not added murder charges against the accused. It will be done on the basis of the post-mortem report.

The final post-mortem report from the medical board at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) is awaited.

A murder case was lodged over Tania's death and a special investigation team constituted under the direct supervision of the deputy commissioner of police, southeast Delhi.

Meanwhile, two of the accused told the court that they were witnesses in the incident.

"We are witness in the case but police implicated us," said advocate Shalabh Gupta, counsel of Sunder Singh and Pawan Farmania.

The advocate requested the court to grant bail to his clients, saying they will not tamper with the evidence.

"It is a matter of grave concern that innocent witnesses have been harassed and illegally roped in as accused," he said.

Relatives of the two accused also said they were innocent and asked the magistrate for justice to Singh and Farmania.

"No one will come forward to become witnesses in a case if police falsely implicates people like this," said a relative of one of the duo.

The defence counsel also told the court that Singh called the police and informed them about the incident and thus cannot be termed as an accused.

Various organisations and students from the northeastern states, demanding justice over Tania's killing, have held protests in the city.

Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi Monday met a group of students from the northeast and assured justice and strict action over Tania's death.