MALKIAT KAUR Sidhu and Surjit Singh Badesha, mother and uncle of Jaswinder Kaur Sidhu aka Jassi, who was murdered on June 8, 2000, were produced in the court of Harpreet Singh, civil judge, junior division, in Malerkotla Friday. While the police had sought seven-day remand of the two accused, the court sent them to police custody for four days. The next date of hearing is January 29.

During the period of police remand, the entire investigation will be done in the presence of the counsel of the two accused and the counsel can visit them at any point, the court said.

Balwinder Singh Cheema, DSP, Amargarh — the area where FIR had been lodged in 2000, said, “We need to look into travel details of the accused, want their passports and also want to investigate on the line of money which was transferred for the contract killing in 2000. If the accused do not cooperate, we may seek more remand. There were a total of 14 accused in this case and so far seven have been convicted. Both Malkiat Kaur and Surjit Singh will face trial for criminal conspiracy and murder.”

The two accused were extradited from Canada and the Canadian police had handed over the accused to the Punjab police Thursday. A team of Sangrur police led by SP (Investigation) Gurmeet Singh had brought the duo from Delhi. Ashwini Chaudhary, counsel of Jassi’s husband Sukhwinder Singh aka Mithu, said, “If needed, more remand can also be sought, although police remand was being opposed by the counsel of accused with a plea that they are senior citizens and Canadian citizens, but the court stated that the law was equal for one and all.”

Simrandeep Singh Sandhu, counsel of the two accused, however, said, “Apprehending torture [of the two accused] in police remand, we had moved an application that investigation should be done in presence of counsel and it has been accepted.”