New Delhi:
Delhi Police had framed Sayed Liyaqat Shah, the man arrested in 2013 on terror charges, the National Investigation Agency has told the Union Home Ministry. Following its recommendations, the ministry is contemplating action against the Delhi Police officers involved, sources told NDTV.
Investigations by the NIA show Shah was returning from Pakistan via Nepal with his wife and daughter, under the surrender policy of the Indian government for surrendered militants. But officials of the Delhi Police deliberately planted weapons on him and arrested him, sources said.
Shah was arrested in 2013 near the Indo-Nepal border for allegedly planning terror attacks in Delhi on the eve of Holi. NDTV has
earlier reported on the many
unanswered questions over the arrest.
In a report submitted to a Delhi court, the NIA said 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.
"Sayed Liaqat Shah did not come into India with the intention of carrying out an attack on vital installations in India," the report said. "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 claimed that Shah was trying to sneak into India to carry out a terror attack. It had also claimed to have recovered weapons and ammunition from a guesthouse 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 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 were contemplating further action.