NIA clean chit to DRDO Jr scientist in 'terror' module case

Aijaz Ahmed Mirza, the former junior research fellow at the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) in the City who was arrested along with a dozen Muslim youth in August 2012 on the charges of plotting to assassinate Hindu right-wing politicians and journalists in Karnataka and elsewhere, has been given a clean chit by the National Investigation Agency (NIA).

The NIA filed the final charge sheet in the case before the NIA special court here on May 27. “We did not include his name in the final charge sheet as there was no prosecutable evidence against him,” a top NIA officer said on the condition of anonymity.

Mirza, who was released on statutory bail in March 2013 after the NIA did not name him in the first charge sheet, is now a relieved man as all the charges against him have been dropped. 

The matter was communicated to him on Friday, the NIA officer said and refused to divulge details of the final charge sheet.

On February 28, 2013, the court had ordered his release after he furnished two sureties for Rs 25,000 each and surrendered his passport.

Wants DRDO job

“I heaved a sigh of relief on Friday when an NIA officer called me up and informed me about the latest development,” Mirza told Deccan Herald from his hometown Hubli.

“The DRDO top brass had promised to reinstate me if I was declared innocent. I will collect the required documents in this regard and request the director general of the DRDO to reinstate me as a junior researcher.”

The DRDO had sent him a termination letter on February 12, 2013.