A court on Thursday extended the Central Crime Branch’s custody of former mayor R. Sampath Raj by a day. The police will continue to interrogate him on his role in the violence at D.J. Halli and and K.G. Halli on August 11.
He has been accused of instigating violence against Pulikeshinagar MLA Akhanda Sreenivasa Murthy over a derogatory social media post against Islam by the legislator’s nephew.
Special Public Prosecutor P. Prasanna Kumar said that the CCB is probing the link between the Facebook accounts of Sampath Raj and that of Naveen Kumar, who put up the post.
Sampath Raj was on the run for more than 20 days, and there were many people who sheltered him. Harbouring an accused is a criminal offence. The people who helped him are yet to be identified and arrested, said Mr. Kumar. He added that Sampath Raj is not cooperating with the CCB, and hence more time is need to question him.
The court, admitting the plea, allowed one more day of custody and directed the CCB to produce him in court on Friday afternoon. The former mayor’s bail plea will come up after the custody is over.