Diwani murder accused remanded in police custody till Sept 8

Mumbai, Sep 4 (UNI) A special MCOCA court today remanded Mohammed Ashrad, who was arrested from Uttar Pradesh for his alleged involvement in the murder of Ajit Diwani, Bollywood actor Manisha Koirala's former secretary, in police custody till September 8.

Ashrad was produced before MCOCA court judge Abhay Thipsay for his alleged involvement in the Ajit Diwani murder case.

The police, while moving the remand application, contended that Ashrad had allegedly supplied weapons to other accused persons.

The police has already filed a chargesheet against other accused persons, including extradited underworld don Abu Salem in April this year.

Salem had, earlier, confessed to his role in the murder but later retracted his statement saying it was taken under duress.

According to the prosecution case, Salem had hired assailants to kill Diwani following the latter's failure to pay up an extortion amount.

Apart from Salem and Ashrad, there are seven other accused in the case and they include Shah Alam, Upendra Singh, Nizamuddin Abdul Rauf, Akhilesh Singh, Ayub Ibrahim Patel, Sahiblal Giri and Deepak Singh alias Dipu. The last had recently escaped while being escorted to a court in Varanasi where he is facing a criminal case.

Upendra Singh and Dipu Singh had allegedly barged into Diwani's office in Lokhandwala area here and shot at him from point blank range. They escaped in a car provided by co-accused Nizamuddin Rauf.

UNI ST MAZ SHB RS1945