BeyondHeadlines Special Correspondent
New Delhi: A special court of the National Investigation Agency (NIA) will today hear the plea of the investigation team, which is seeking the custody of Delhi High Court blast suspect Amir Abbas Dev. Dev was sent to judicial custody when he was produced in the court yesterday as there was no lawyer to defend him. Court has remanded co-accused Abid Hussain to custody till October 5.
Amir Abbas Dev, a Jammu and Kashmir native, was one of the alleged terrorists involved in the Delhi High Court blast on September 7 that killed 15 and injured more than 90 people, the NIA told a special court yesterday.
“He (Dev) is one of the terrorists who had conducted bomb blast between gate number 4 and 5 of the Delhi High Court. He is one of the conspirator and needs to be interrogated thoroughly to trace out their complexity in this terrorist crime and other associates are also involved in this terrorist crime and conspiracy,” NIA, in its application seeking to interrogate the accused, said.
During separate proceedings, Special NIA Judge H S Sharma allowed the agency in the forenoon to quiz accused Abid Hussain who is in the custody of the agency for 14 days till October 5. However, Dev, produced with his face covered in the afternoon, was sent to judicial custody till tomorrow as there was no lawyer to defend him and oppose the plea of the NIA seeking his custodial interrogation in the case.
Hussain and Dev, who were brought to Delhi on September 21 following their arrest at Kishtwar in Jammu and Kashmir, had allegedly sent e-mails to media houses claiming responsibility for the blast on behalf of banned terror outfit Harkat ul-Jihad al-Islami (HuJI).
The two accused have been booked under various provisions of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act and the Explosive Substances Act, dealing with conspiracy, murder, attempt to kill, causing hurt and using explosives.
Hussain, who is said to be a student of Islamia Faridia Higher Secondary School at Kishtwar, was arrested on September 13 for allegedly sending the terror mail, the NIA said. Dev, who is pursuing Bachelor of Arts course through correspondence at Maulana Azad Urdu University in Hyderabad, not only sent the e-mails but also took part in the blast, the agency said in its application.
Dev was arrested three days after the arrest of Hussain on September 16 in Kishtwar by the state police after the e-mails were tracked. Dev is accused of handing over the draft mail three days before the blast to the two high school students.
He is alleged to have drafted the mail and then handed it over to the two boys with the instruction that it was to be mailed to media houses immediately after the blasts.
Third accused Shariq Ahmed, who was also arrested in connection with the case, has so far not been produced in the court.
