Bhubaneswar: The Konark Police on Thursday took research scholar Abhijit Iyer Mitra on a four-day remand amid tight security.
According to sources, the Konark Police took Abhijit from the Jharpada jail in the evening. Police will interrogate him over his derogatory remarks against the Konark Sun Temple and about his aerial tour over the Sun Temple and the Jagannath Temple.
“The only priority for me is to apply for bail in the Orissa High Court for two cases registered by the Saheed Nagar Police and Konark Police. Since cases are not being tried in the High Court at present due to the ongoing strike by the lawyers, I have other remedies,”
Abhijit’s counsel Nikhil Mehera told mediapersons here.
After his arrest by the Saheed Nagar police on October 23, Abhijit was produced in the Sub-Divisional Judicial Magistrate (SDJM) court, which remanded him to judicial custody for 14 days after rejecting his bail plea. After he was produced in the court, IIC of Konark Police Station and Investigating Officer (IO) Sanjib Pradhan had applied to the court to take him on a seven-day remand. However, the court on Wednesday allowed the Konark Police to take him on a four-day remand.
One Bimbadhar Goura of Konark area had lodged a complaint against Abhijit at the Konark Police Station on September 19 for his derogatory remarks on the Sun Temple.
On the basis of the complaint, the police had registered a case (no-92/15) under Section 163 (taking a gratification for the exercise of personal influence with a public servant), Section 295 (injuring or defiling place of worship with intent to insult the religion of any class), Section 298 (uttering, words, etc., with deliberate intent to wound the religious feelings of any person), Section 66 of IT Act (computer-related offences) and Section 30 of IT Act ( make use of hardware, software, and procedures that are secure from intrusion and misuse).
