Byculla jail inmate death: MLA Ramesh Kadam moves court, seeks to record his statement

Mumbai: Maharashtra MLA Ramesh Kadam, lodged in Byculla jail following his arrest on corruption charges, on Friday moved a Mumbai magisterial court to have his statement recorded in the murder case of a woman inmate of the jail.

“I have filed an application, requesting the court to record Kadam’s statement under section 164 of Criminal Procedure Code,” said the MLA’s counsel Nitin Satpute.

A statement, recorded by a magistrate under section 164 of the Criminal Procedure Code, is admissible as evidence during the trial.

Kadam also lodged in Byculla jail in central Mumbai, claimed to be an ’eye-witness’ in the Shetye murder case. The jail houses both male and female inmates, though in separate quarters.

Manju Shette, 45, a woman convict serving life term in Byculla jail, died in hospital on 23 June after she was allegedly beaten up by the jail staffers. The police have arrested six jail officials in the case.

Advocate Satpute claimed that four murder convicts and two constables destroyed the evidence related to the incident.

The constables took the four convicts to Shetye’s barrack and asked them to clean it up. Evidence related to the incident was destroyed in the process, the lawyer alleged.

Kadam’s statement will shed light on this, he said.

The MLA had also sent a representation to the chief minister in this regard, he said.

Kadam was arrested for his alleged role in a scam involving Annabhau Sathe Backward Classes Development Corporation, of which he was chairman, two years ago.

The six accused in Shette case - Manisha Pokharkar, Wasima Shaikh, Shital Shegokar, Surekha Gulve, Aarti Shingne and Bindu Naikade, were, meanwhile, produced in the Esplanade magistrate’s court as their police custody ended today.

Noting that no significant progress has been made in the case, the additional magistrate sent them to 14-day judicial custody.