12-day judicial custody for Ashok Todi

Kolkata, Dec 1 (PTI) Industrialist Ashok Todi was Monday remanded in 12 days of judicial custody for allegedly abetting his son in-law Rizwanur Rahman's suicide.

Rejecting Todi's bail prayer, Bankshall Court's 14th
Metropolitan Magistrate Madhumita Roy directed that he would
be in judicial custody till December 12.

Todi surrendered before Roy Monday morning in
accordance with a Supreme Court direction.

A packed court room witnessed heated arguments between
Todi's counsel Pradip Ghosh and Rizwanur's mother Kishwar
Jahan's counsel Kalyan Banerjee and on one occasion they
almost came to blows, shouting at each other at the top
of their voices.

Todi, who had allegedly been evading arrest for some
time, had moved the apex court challenging an arrest warrant
issued by the metropolitan magistrate at Bankshall Court. The
apex court had directed him to surrender before the
magistrate.

Todi's counsel Ghosh prayed for bail before the
magistrate claiming he was ill and had been been exonerated of
any accusation by Rizwanur, whose body was found beside
railway tracks in September last year, a month after he
married the industrialist's daughter, Priyanka.

He said that in the last letter Rizwanur wrote before
his alleged suicide, the computer graphics teacher mentioned
"I forgive my father in-law Ashok Todi because he is a
father."

India's Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) counsel
Partha Tapaswi opposed the bail prayer submitting that Todi
was the main accused and as such should not be given bail.

Kishwar's counsel Banerjee made an impassionate plea
opposing the bail prayer.

Former deputy commissioner (detective department) of
Kolkata Police Ajoy Kumar and two officers from his
department, Todi, his brother Pradip Todi and brother-in-law
Anil Saraogi along with facilitator Moinuddin alias Pappu,
were accused of abetting Rizwanur's suicide, criminal
intimidation and criminal conspiracy. PTI AMR
NIK