Cash and valuables recovered by police in the course of investigation need not be necessarily handed over to their owners pending trial since criminal courts only decide on granting interim custody to a person who lays a better claim of possession over the properties and it is up to civil courts to decide on lawful ownership after conclusion of criminal trial, the Madras High Court Bench here has said. Justice M. Venugopal made the observations while dismissing a revision petition filed by an accused seeking custody of Rs. 1 lakh and 124 grams of gold jewellery seized from him by T. Kallupatti police near here in connection with a criminal case booked against him on a charge of marrying several women claiming to be an Intelligence Bureau official. The petitioner, Thiruvarulrajan, assailed an order of a Judicial Magistrate in Peraiyur who had handed over the cash and the jewels to the mother of a woman whom the petitioner had married last since the aged widow had produced her bank p...