Molestation case: Chief priest of Badrinath shrine sent to JC

A Delhi court today extended till March 3 the judicial custody of the chief priest of Badrinath shrine in Uttarakhand, Keshavan Namboodiri, who has been arrested for allegedly confining and molesting a woman in a hotel here.
Namboodiri and one of his associates Vishnu Prasad, also co-accused in the case, were produced before Metropolitan Magistrate Shreya Arora Mehta who remanded them in judicial custody till March 3 after police did not seek their custodial interrogation.
The two were produced before the court after expiry of their earlier 14 days of remand.
According to police, the incident took place on February 3 when the 28-year-old woman had gone to meet Namboodiri at the hotel.

Delhi Police had informed the court that the accused were apprehended from a hotel in Mehrauli area of south Delhi.
The police also told the court that the two were drunk at the time of arrest.

They were booked under section 342 (wrongful confinement) and 354 (assault or criminal force to woman with intent to outrage her modesty) of the IPC.
"The woman's father knew Namboodiri as he owned a hotel in Badrinath. On March 3, he called her and said he wants to meet her. She initially refused but later went to meet him along with her driver.
"When the woman reached Namboodiri's hotel room, she saw that there were cigarette buts and the place smelt of liquor. Vishnu Prasad was also there," the police had said.

"Namboodiri had asked Vishnu to go out and shut the door. When she sat on a chair in the hotel room, the priest tried to inappropriately touch her, following which she came out of the room and reached the police station with the help of her driver," a senior police official had told the court.
Namboodiri was suspended as the chief priest of the famous shrine soon after confirmation of the news about his arrest.