Thursday, December 29 2005 19:39 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Mumbai: The special Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA) court here today (Dec 29, 2005) refused to extend the police custody of Chhota Rajan's associate D K Rao by twelve days as sought by the police until the prosecution produces a fresh sentence-suspension order.

The Judge A P Bhangale extended Rao's police custody by a day, giving the prosecution one day's time for obtaining the required order, following which the application for fresh police remand would be considered.

Rao was remanded to police custody for operating an extortion racket and conducting other criminal activities from inside the Aurthur Road Jail here, on December 15.

Since Rao is already undergoing a ten-year sentence in another case, before seeking his police custody last time police first obtained state home ministry's order suspending his sentence so that he could be transferred to police custody.

But today, when his initial remand was due to expire, the defense counsel argued that government's order suspending Rao's sentence was only for the initial remand and now a fresh order was needed if Rao's custody was to be extended.

The special MCOCA Judge upheld this argument and directed that if police wanted fresh remand, the order suspending his sentence will have to be obtained anew.

Police in today's remand application have claimed to have found a shattered mobile from drainage of prison cell where Rao had been lodged. Police have also sought more time to identify the voices of persons whose cell-phone conversations with Rao they claim to have tapped. Rao was using cell phone freely from under the jail, police have claimed.