Vijayawada: The Sixth Additional Judicial Magistrate of the First Class on Tuesday ordered five-day SIT custody for seven accused in the spurious liquor case.

Those remanded were Ravi (A4), Badhal Das (A7), Pradeep Das (A8), Srinivas Reddy (A11), Kalyan (A12), Ramesh Babu (A15), and Allahbakshi (A16). All were previously lodged in Vijayawada district jail.

The police had also arrested former minister Jogi Ramesh on Sunday in connection with the same case. He is currently in Nellore Central Jail. With the court granting SIT custody, investigators expect major leads on the network behind the adulterated liquor racket and hope to make progress in related cases registered at Mulakalacheruvu and Ibrahimpatnam. SIT officials have already questioned Janardhan Rao and Jagan Mohan Rao earlier in the same investigation.