LUCKNOW Nearly seven hours of questioning, a list of 120 questions and a series of unresolved details surrounding the death of Lucknow cafe owner Shiva Sharma marked an intense round of interrogation at the Hazratganj police station on Thursday, before a local court sent main accused Shraddha Dubey and two others to judicial custody until October 31.
Among the questions investigators sought answers to were: Who allegedly helped her evade the police during her run. Investigators also questioned her about the circumstances leading to the death and the reasons behind her escape. The three accused were brought to the court amid heavy police deployment.
Shraddha, 31, her sister Rashmi Dubey and driver Danish, who were arrested in Nagpur, were brought to Lucknow on transit remand and quizzed by the investigating team. The trio was produced before a Lucknow court that remanded them in judicial custody for 10 days, said officials. Dubey reached the police station around 9.45am and was taken for medical examination at about 4.31pm, marking the end of the day’s first major round of questioning. They were produced at around 5.30 pm after undergoing questioning for hours and a medical examination. The court subsequently ordered that Shraddha Dubey, Rashmi Dubey and Tanveer Ali be placed in judicial custody from October 22 to October 31.
Police questioned Shraddha, her sister Rashmi and driver Danish alias Tanveer Ali separately, DCP Central Arpit Vijayvargiya said, to prevent them from coordinating their accounts and to identify discrepancies in their statements. DCP (Central) Arpit Vijayvargiya said police had questioned six to seven people so far, apart from Shraddha, Rashmi and Danish, to piece together the sequence of events. Those questioned included the domestic help who was present at the time of the incident and reportedly told investigators that the couple had fought during the day.
Investigators sought to establish what happened before the fall, whether it was murder or suicide, who else may have been involved and why Shraddha fled after the incident.
