Kalicharan remanded to 14 days’ judicial custody

Raipur, Dec 31: A local court on Friday remanded godman Kalicharan Maharaj to 14 days’ judicial custody in the case pertaining to a derogatory remark against Father of the Nation Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi.
City police arrested the accused on Thursday on the outskirts of Khajuraho in Madhya Pradesh.
Kalicharan was initially remanded in two days’ police custody. The period was to expire on Saturday but law-enforcement authorities presented the godman before Judicial Magistrate Chetan Thakur a day earlier. A bail plea was rejected. Subsequently, defence attorneys moved the District Court for bail.
As happened on Thursday, numerous people – owing allegiance to pro-Hindu organisations affiliated with the Bharatiya Janata Party – sloganeered in favour of the accused on the premises.
A case was registered under sections 294 and 505(2) of the Indian Penal Code against Kalicharan at Tikrapara Police Station in the wake of a speech during a Dharm Sansad at Ravanbhata on Sunday. The godman expressed support for the Mahatma’s assassin Nathuram Vinayak Godse. On the basis of evidence gathered during inquiry; sections 153A(1)(a), 153B(1)(a), 295A, 505(1)(b) and 124A were appended.