Manjula Shetye Murder Case: Byculla jail's six staffers booked under sections

On Tuesday, a special women’s court framed charges against Byculla jail’s six staff members for the murder and hatching a criminal conspiracy against jail inmate Manjula Shetye, who was found dead in the jail in June 2017.

The six staffers — jailor Manisha Pokharkar, prison guards Vasima Shaikh, Bindu Naikode, Surekha Kakad, Shital Shengaonkar and Arti Shingane — were arrested for assaulting Shetye inside the jail on June 23, 2017.

On Tuesday, the six were booked under sections 120B (criminal conspiracy), 302 (murder), 201 (destruction of evidence), 506 (criminal intimidation) of the Indian Penal Code.

However, the six have denied all the allegations and have chosen to face the trial. The court will now wait for documents and evidence after which the trial will begin.

The prosecution alleged that before the arrest, the accused had destroyed Shetye’s clothes and also disposed the wooden stick, which was used to assault the victim. Along with this, they were also held responsible for intimidating other inmates against providing evidence against them. The trial will now begin against the six who have pleaded not guilty.

After Shetye's custodial death, the Mumbai crime branch arrested one of the jail staff and had detained five. Along with this, the State Women’s Commission had ordered to form a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to probe Manjula Shetye’s death. This committee comprised of former judges, women police officers, and another person to conduct the investigation under the police commissioner directives.

Also Read: Superintendent Suspended In Manjula Shetye Case: Ranjit Patil

On September 26, the crime branch submitted a 990-page charge sheet against six prison officials. The charge sheet included a total number of 182 witnesses out of which 97 are jail inmates and rest are jail officials and doctors.

Among the witnesses, the charge sheet had mentioned two important witnesses i.e Indrani Mukerjea and Vaishali Mudane, who testified against the jail officer. Along with this, the charge sheet had a mention of CCTV footage as a part of the evidence.