New Delhi:
A Delhi court on Wednesday extended by 10 days the police custody of three suspected Indian Mujahideen (IM) operatives, arrested for their alleged roles in the Pune blast in August this year.
Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Vidya Parkash extended the police custody of Asad Khan, 33, Imran Khan, 31 and Syed Feroze, 38, who police claimed had carried out blasts in Pune in August and had also planned to carry out strikes in Delhi and a temple at Bodh Gaya in Bihar during the Dussehra and Diwali festivals.
While seeking extension of their custody, the police, meanwhile, also told the court that it has arrested a fourth IM operative, involved in the Pune blast case. (Read)
The fourth man, arrested from Maharashtra, is in the custody of Special Cell till October 30.
The police told the court that Asad, Imran and Syed had to be confronted with this fourth man to unearth the entire conspiracy.
It also told the court that the source of explosives recovered from the trio is yet to be ascertained. Besides this, certain call details have to be retrieved and the forensic opinion on e-mail accounts and e-mails is yet to be received.
The plea for extension of the trio's police custody was opposed by their counsel MS Khan who said the probe agency should first tell the court as to what it has unearthed during their interrogation in last 20 days.
Asad, who is alleged to be a "recruiter, motivator and IM ideologue" and Imran were arrested on September 26 from their hideout in Pul Pehladpur in South Delhi, while Firoze was apprehended from Nizamuddin Railway station five days later.
Seeking extension of police custody for the three suspected IM operatives, Public Prosecutor Rajiv Mohan told the court that during interrogation of Syed Zabiuddin alias Abu Jundal, the key handler of the 26/11 Mumbai carnage, the leads had surfaced that some of the IM terror modules were planning to carry out more attacks.
Jundal had also claimed during interrogation that one of the IM founders, Fayaz Kaghzi, a resident of Beed in Maharashtra, was coordinating the terror strikes from a west Asian country, the prosecutor said.
Kagzhi, who has been named as a suspect in the charge sheet filed against Jundal, had been in touch with the three terrorists, police said.
The Pune blasts were to avenge the murder of IM operative Qateel Siddique in Yerwada Jail on June 8 and the initial plan was to target Mumbai or the prison but later this was changed due to logistical reasons, the police had earlier said.
Asad is a computer expert and has a diploma in it. He had tried to set up a computer shop but as it did not do well, he allegedly turned to militancy, the prosecutor told the court.
Rajiv Mohan said they were directed by the outfit's top operatives Riyaz and Iqbal Bhatkal.
Five kg of explosive materials, ten detonators and other articles were recovered from them, the police had said.
The police had also claimed that the trio had been funded through hawala transactions and that they had received Rs three lakh from their mentors based abroad through hawala.
Later, on the instructions of Iqbal and Riyaz Bhatkal, they had come to Delhi for causing blasts, the police added.
Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Vidya Parkash extended the police custody of Asad Khan, 33, Imran Khan, 31 and Syed Feroze, 38, who police claimed had carried out blasts in Pune in August and had also planned to carry out strikes in Delhi and a temple at Bodh Gaya in Bihar during the Dussehra and Diwali festivals.
While seeking extension of their custody, the police, meanwhile, also told the court that it has arrested a fourth IM operative, involved in the Pune blast case. (Read)
The fourth man, arrested from Maharashtra, is in the custody of Special Cell till October 30.
The police told the court that Asad, Imran and Syed had to be confronted with this fourth man to unearth the entire conspiracy.
It also told the court that the source of explosives recovered from the trio is yet to be ascertained. Besides this, certain call details have to be retrieved and the forensic opinion on e-mail accounts and e-mails is yet to be received.
The plea for extension of the trio's police custody was opposed by their counsel MS Khan who said the probe agency should first tell the court as to what it has unearthed during their interrogation in last 20 days.
Asad, who is alleged to be a "recruiter, motivator and IM ideologue" and Imran were arrested on September 26 from their hideout in Pul Pehladpur in South Delhi, while Firoze was apprehended from Nizamuddin Railway station five days later.
Seeking extension of police custody for the three suspected IM operatives, Public Prosecutor Rajiv Mohan told the court that during interrogation of Syed Zabiuddin alias Abu Jundal, the key handler of the 26/11 Mumbai carnage, the leads had surfaced that some of the IM terror modules were planning to carry out more attacks.
Jundal had also claimed during interrogation that one of the IM founders, Fayaz Kaghzi, a resident of Beed in Maharashtra, was coordinating the terror strikes from a west Asian country, the prosecutor said.
Kagzhi, who has been named as a suspect in the charge sheet filed against Jundal, had been in touch with the three terrorists, police said.
The Pune blasts were to avenge the murder of IM operative Qateel Siddique in Yerwada Jail on June 8 and the initial plan was to target Mumbai or the prison but later this was changed due to logistical reasons, the police had earlier said.
Asad is a computer expert and has a diploma in it. He had tried to set up a computer shop but as it did not do well, he allegedly turned to militancy, the prosecutor told the court.
Rajiv Mohan said they were directed by the outfit's top operatives Riyaz and Iqbal Bhatkal.
Five kg of explosive materials, ten detonators and other articles were recovered from them, the police had said.
The police had also claimed that the trio had been funded through hawala transactions and that they had received Rs three lakh from their mentors based abroad through hawala.
Later, on the instructions of Iqbal and Riyaz Bhatkal, they had come to Delhi for causing blasts, the police added.
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