Pleading for their remand, public prosecutor EB Dhamal told the court that since the charges against them are of “criminal conspiracy and murder”, the investigating team needed police custody of the three — Vijay Kolekar, Arun Kamble and builder Zuber Lakdawala — as “the actual relation to the crime needs to be established with the accused and the who, when and where still needs to be ascertained.”

“The custody was sought as the investigations were still at a primary stage and “nature of the crime was a serious offence”, he added.

On the grounds sought for the remand, the police will question them further and will “recover and collect all the documents related to the construction and oral evidence on the same matter”.

The defence argued against the charge of murder and told the court that the accused were charged and arrested only due to “much pressure from public and the media” over the probe. The prosecution brought forward the facts as lodged by the complainant, a monk with the community Nand Bodhi who alleged that the death followed the threats that Mahathero received from the accused for his staunch opposition to redevelopment of the land.

The first accused named in the FIR — Manohar Jadhav (45), the president of the Slum Rehabilitation Authority (SRA), had been sent to custody by the same court on Thursday. The police have also informed the court that witness statements are being recorded. Most importantly, adds Dhamal “the police now need to ascertain where and when the conspiracy was hatched by interrogating the accused and understating the line of communication between the four.”