Odisha Crime Branch gets Satyam on three-day remand

The Sub Divisional Judicial Magistrate (SDJM) court here today allowed Odisha Crime Branch police to take Satyam Sekhar Roul, the so-called son of self-proclaimed godman Srimad  Sarathi alias Santosh Kumar Roul on a three-day remand.

Satyam was produced before the SDJM court here by the Crime Branch amid tight security this afternoon. The SDJM court accepted the Crime Branch plea to take him on three days’ demand and asked the agency to produce him in the court at the end of his remand period, which begins tomorrow.

After the ruling by the court, Satyam was taken to the Choudwar Circle Jail. He will be staying in Cell No 3 in the jail today and will be taken to the Crime Branch headquarters here tomorrow for interrogation. His ‘father’ Sarathi Baba too is lodged in the same jail.

Satyam had revealed during his marathon interrogation by the Crime Branch on Wednesday before his formal arrest that he had left Barimula Ashram on August 6, a day before Srimad Sarathi was picked up from the Ashram by the Crime branch, sources in the agency said.

After hiding at different places within the state, Satyam left for Hyderabad from where he went to Raipur, and then to Bhillai, Pune and finally to Mumbai from where he was picked up from a hotel at Borivili by a special four-member team of the Crime Branch on Tuesday with the assistance of Mumbai police.

Satyam, who changed his location and mobile SIM freqeuntly during the period in hiding, was trapped by the Crime branch after tracking the calls made on the mobile phone of his girl friend based here. He used to call from STD booths to avoid getting trapped, but was finally traced with the help of Mumbai police, agency sources said.

Satyam was brought to Bhubaneswar on an Indigo flight from Mumbai at 1.10 PM from where he was brought straight to the Crime Branch headquarters here where he was arrested at 6.30 PM after being grilled for nearly two and half hours, revealed Crime Branch sources.

The Crime Branch has traced deposits of Rs 27 lakh from three bank accounts in his name, sources added.

Meanwhile, Sarathi Baba will be produced at the SDJM court here tomorrow as per the earlier order of the court.

The Crime Branch is likely to seek his remand for further interrogation as newer facts have emerged in the case.

Sources in the Crime Branch said Sarathi is likely to be interrogated face-to-face with his so-called son Satyam whose three-day demand starts tomorrow.