Four accused in Mumbai gang-rape shifted to Byculla jail

Instead of being kept at the Arthur Road jail, the four accused arrested for the gangrape of a photojournalist were shifted to the Byculla jail, where there is space to keep them in a separate cell. Mohamed Thaver & Charul Shah report.

Instead of being kept at the Arthur Road jail, the four accused arrested for the gangrape of a photojournalist were shifted to the Byculla jail, where there is space to keep them in a separate cell.

The four Siraj Rehman Khan, Vijay Jadhav, Kasim Bengali and Salim Ansari were produced before the metropolitan magistrate court after their police custody ended on Thursday. The crime branch pleaded the court to remand the accused to judicial custody and sought permission to conduct the test identification parade.

HT had earlier reported that the Arthur Road jail was overcrowded - 3,000 inmates as against its capacity of 800 - and top officials were worried that the accused would be attacked by other inmates.

VD Burkule, superintendent of the prison, confirmed that the accused had been shifted to Byculla jail, which is primarily for women prisoners.

"We have cells in Byculla jail where petty criminals are kept. We will keep them [the four accused] in one of those cells," a top jail official said on condition of anonymity.

The official said the identification parade was also likely to be held at the Byculla prison on Friday

The accused have been sent to judicial custody till September 19 by the court.