Chief of Hindu Rashtra Sena Dhananjay Desai remanded to 14-day judicial custody for distribution of inflammatory literature

Dhananjay Desai, the chief of Hindu Rashtra Sena, whose members allegedly beat a 28-year-old IT professional to death, was on Monday remanded in a 14-day judicial custody in a case related to distribution of inflammatory literature. Desai, arrested in the wake of the murder of Mohasin Shaikh, an IT professional, in Hadapasar area last week, was produced in the magistrate's court at Loni Kalbhor near Pune.

He did not apply for bail, police superintendent M Lohiya said. 

Desai had recently made a speech at Loni Kalbhor and circulated some provocative pamphlets following which the Pune rural police registered a case against him.

Meanwhile, the police custody of the 19 persons arrested in connection with Shaikh's murder was further extended till June 12 by another magisterial court on Monday. Shaikh was murdered after some objectionable pictures of King Shivaji and the late Shiv Sena supremo Bal Thackeray appeared on Facebook, leading to communal tension.

The situation in Pune city and suburbs was reported to be peaceful on Monday amid a heavy police bandobast. Stray incidents of stone-pelting at buses had taken place yesterday, following the surfacing of yet another objectionable Facebook post.