Ten accused in the Apna Ghar shelter home case were Wednesday produced before a Panchkula court after which all of them were remanded to judicial custody.
Those produced before the Court of Civil Judge Anudeep Kaur Bhatti were Jaswanti Devi, her daughter Simmi, brother Jaswant Singh, son-in-law Jai Bhagwan, cousin Sheela. Counsellor Veena, driver Satish, former probe officer Bhim Singh Ranga, Harvinder and Dayanand also appeared before the court.
The Central Bureau of Information (CBI) sought police remand of Ranga, Bhagwan and Satish on the grounds that a laptop, mobile phones and some other gadgets, allegedly containing footage of sexual abuse of inmates of Apna Ghar which was filmed by the accused, had to be recovered from them.
However, the investigating agency, which took over investigations earlier this July, failed to get police remand of three accused in the case.
The CBI could not produce the police diary containing details of police investigations and the authority letter or a High Court or Apex Court order, which would certify that they had taken over the investigations in the case from Haryana Police.
The judge sent all the accused to judicial custody and gave CBI time till tomorrow to produce relevant papers before the court for seeking police remand of Ranga, Bhagwan and Satish.
Ranga, a former sub-inspector of Haryana Police who had retired recently, was earlier charged with allegedly illegally handing over the case property, including cell phones and laptops, to accused Dayananad.
Coming out of the Court, Jaswanti Devi said that she was hopeful that the CBI would conduct unbiased investigations in the case.
Devi claimed that she had been framed in the case by some NGOs out of rivalry as her Bharat Vikas Sangh NGO, which ran the Rohtak-based shelter home, had earlier got an award from the state government.
The Haryana government had about a month back recommended a CBI probe into the allegations of sexual abuse and torture, including by police personnel, of the inmates of the Apna Ghar shelter home.
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