Odisha Crime Branch gets Sarathi Baba on 3-day remand

Odisha Sun Times Bureau
Cuttack, Aug 8:

The court of Sub Divisional Judicial Magistrate (SDJM) here today allowed Odisha Crime Branch to take the controversial godman Sarathi Baba on a three-day remand from tomorrow.

The court, after rejecting the bail petition of Sarathi alias Santosh Raul, remanded him to judicial custody.

The Crime Branch had prayed the court to take him on a five-day remand.

Police later took Sarathi to Choudwar Circle Jail where he was lodged in cell no-2 as a class-III prisoner.

Sarathi was brought from the Crime Branch headquarters office amid tight security and produced in the court at about 4 PM.

Several people gathered in front of the court were seen throwing shoes and slippers at the Baba even as others were seen trying to pull his hair while he was getting into the vehicle.

The court rejected the bail plea of Baba’s counsel Manas Ray, who pleaded that there was no basis in the allegation against his client.

The Baba would be taken on a three-day remand by the Crime Branch from tomorrow for further interrogation.

Earlier in the day, the six-member Special Investigation Team (SIT) of the Crime Branch subjected Sarathi Baba to a marathon interrogation after he was brought from his ashram to the Crime Branch headquarters here early in the morning.