Pune techie murder: HRS chief, 20 others sent to 14-day JC

A magistrate court here today remanded chief of Hindu Rashtra Sena (HRS) Dhananjay Desai and 20 others in 14 days judicial custody in connection with the murder of 28-year-old IT professional in Hadapsar following uploading of a Facebook post denigrating King Shivaji and late Bal Thackeray.
Public prosecutor who earlier pleaded for extended police remand of the accused told the court that custodial interrogation was necessary to recover the computer used by Desai and to scan his phone records.
The defence counsel Rajendra Sonavale opposed the plea saying that his client was "framed" in the murder case of Mohasin Shaikh who was beaten to death in the dark on June 2 night by a mob of 20/25 people who were not identifiable.

The magistrate who had remanded Desai in a day's police custody yesterday, today passed an order transferring him to judicial custody for 14 days.
Desai charged with an alleged conspiracy and murder of Shaikh under 302 and 120(B) sections of IPC, is also booked in a case filed by rural police for allegedly making an inflammatory public speech and circulating inflammatory pamphlets aimed at causing communal disharmony.