Udupi: Niranjan Bhat, one of the main accused in the sensational Bhasker Shetty murder case, was remanded to the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) custody till Saturday by the Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate court.

Non-resident entrepreneur and owner of Hotel Durga International, Bhasker Shetty went missing on July 28 from Udupi. His mother Gulabi Shetty had lodged a missing complaint with the Manipal police on July 29. Soon, Bhasker’s wife Rajeshwari and son Navaneeth were arrested by the police on charges of charring Shetty to death after collaborating with Niranjan Bhat.

The police arrested Rajeshwari and Navneeth on charges of murder and destroying evidence on August 7, while they arrested Niranjan on August 8 for allegedly helping in disposing of Bhasker Shetty’s body after burning it in a ‘Yagna Kunda’ room at Nandalike village and immersing the ashes in a rivulet at Palli village. The police have not recovered the body so far.

The police further arrested Srinivas Bhat, father of Niranjan Bhat, and Raghavendra, Niranjan’s car driver, on August 10, on the charge of destruction of evidence in the case.