Three suspected Indian Mujahideen (IM) operatives, who were interrogated by the NIA for their alleged involvement in the February 21 twin blasts in Hyderabad, were on Wednesday remanded in judicial custody till April 3 by a Delhi court.
During an in-chamber hearing, district judge I S Mehta sent Obaid-Ur-Rehman, Syed Maqbool and Imran Khan to judicial custody after National Investigation Agency (NIA) said that their probe into the case is going on, court sources said. The three accused were produced before the court after expiry of their custodial interrogation by the NIA in connection with the twin blasts that had left 16 dead.
Rehman, who was brought here from Bangalore Central Jail, was earlier remanded in NIA custody after which the agency had sought custodial interrogation of Maqbool and Imran saying they have to be confronted with each other.
According to the sources, the NIA had told the court that they need to confront both Maqbool and Imran with Rehman as some conflicting statements have been given by them during their separate interrogation.
Maqbool and Imran were earlier remanded in NIA custody for five days by the court during which they were taken to Hyderabad in connection with the blasts. Rehman was remanded in NIA custody on March 13 after the agency submitted that his custodial interrogation was necessary to unearth the entire conspiracy behind the bombings.
Maqbool and Imran were lodged in Tihar Jail after they were arrested by Delhi Police in the August 2012 Pune blast case. The NIA had told the court that the duo had recced Hyderabad’s Dilsukhnagar area where the blasts took place.
The court had also issued non-bailable warrants against IM founder Riyaz Bhatkal and nine other operatives of the banned group in connection with the Hyderabad blasts — Iqbal Bhatkal, Mohsim Chaudhary, Amir Reza Khan, Dr Shahnawaz Alam, Asadullah Akhtar, Ariz Khan, Mohd Khalid, Mirza Shadaab Beg and Mohd Sajid.
According to the sources, the NIA had told the judge that the conspiracy behind the Hyderabad blasts was hatched by the IM modules. The NIA had said that the blasts took place in Hyderabad on the alleged instructions of Riyaz Bhatkal.
–Agencies