Mohali twin murder: Court extends police custody of accused

Gaurav Kumar at Mohali court on Wednesday. (Express Photo)

THE ACCUSED Gaurav Kumar, involved in the killing of journalist KJ Singh and his mother Gurcharan Kaur, had tried to burn the clothes he wore at the time of the murders and threw the half-burnt clothes into a nullah near Kajheri, police informed a local court while seeking three days’ extension of police custody of the accused on Wednesday.

The court, however, extended Gaurav’s police custody only by a day after his five-day police remand came to an end. Assistant District Attorney Prithvi Singh Brar, pleaded in the court of Civil Judge (Junior Division) Parul that the recovery of Gaurav’s blood-stained clothes was the key to establish that he had committed the crime. Brar also pleaded that if the clothes were recovered, the police would sent them to the forensic laboratory to match Gaurav’s blood with the blood stains on his clothes. Brar also told the court that Gaurav did not co-operate with the police during his interrogation and was not telling them where he had dumped his clothes.

The counsel for defence, Navin Saini, while contesting the prosecution claims, pleaded that the police had failed to get anything substantial detail from Gaurav after interrogating him for five days barring the recovery of an LED screen. He also questioned the police theory, saying it was strange that the police were claiming that Gaurav was hiding at Kajheri village, only 3.5 km from the residence of Mohali SSP Kuldeep Singh Chahal but how could a criminal stay in an area where he had committed a crime.

Saini said Gaurav could have fled to Uttar Pradesh or any other place to dodge the police. He also said that during the press conference on October 26, police officials had already showed everything recovered from Gaurav and any further police remand made no sense. Saini also pleaded with the court that the police must produce the CCTV footage in court. The judge, however, asked Saini to contest all the other points during the trial. Gaurav’s family members, including his father Satvir Singh and elder brother Rajeev alias Bablu, were also present in court. Later, they again said that Gaurav was being falsely implicated in the case.