New Delhi:
Sayed Liyaqat Shah, a Kashmiri man arrested in 2013 for allegedly plotting to target the national capital, may have been framed, the National Investigation Agency has said.
Shah was arrested in 2013 near the Indo-Nepal border for allegedly planning terror attacks in Delhi on the eve of Holi; but he may have been framed, the premier probe agency has said.
NDTV has
earlier reported on the
many unanswered questions over Shah's arrest.
In a report submitted to a Delhi court, the NIA has stated that Shah, who had crossed over to Pakistan in the early 1990s, was returning to India with his family to be part of the Jammu and Kashmir government's rehabilitation plan for former militants.
The Delhi police had claimed that Shah was trying to sneak into India to carry out a terror attack.
In its report, the NIA has said, "Sayed Liaqat Shah did not come into India with the intention of carrying out an attack on vital installations in India. The disclosure statements of Shah, recorded by Delhi police, do not stand as legally sustainable evidence, in respect of his association with any banned organisation."
The Delhi police had also claimed to have recovered weapons and ammunition from a guest house in old Delhi, allegedly on the basis of information gleaned from Mr Shah's interrogation. But that cache, according to NIA officials, was reportedly planted by an informer of the Delhi Police's Special Cell.
The informer - Sabir Khan Pathan - was allegedly in constant touch with the special officers who arrested Shah, said the NIA.
The NIA has deduced, reportedly on the basis of Pathan's call records, that he was "directed by his associates located at Delhi to accomplish the task assigned to him during the operational period".
While Pathan is reportedly absconding, NIA officials say that his call records indicate that he was in touch with the officers involved with the case, when they were reportedly on their way to 'recover' the cache from the guest house.
Delhi Police Commissioner BS Bassi told NDTV that he had not seen the report by the NIA yet.
But officials in the Home Ministry told NDTV that they have taken serious note of the investigation and are contemplating further action.