Red Fort blast: NIA granted 45 more days by court to conclude probe

New Delhi: A Delhi court on Friday allowed the National Investigation Agency (NIA) an extension of 45 days to conclude its probe in connection with the blast near the Red Fort here on November 10 last year.

Special Judge Prashant Sharma allowed the agency additional time and also extended the judicial custody of several accused.

So far, the anti-terror agency has made 11 arrests in the case.

Earlier, on March 23, the agency filed its plea seeking an extension, and one of the grounds was that it needed more time to probe the entire conspiracy because of the fresh arrests made in February.

Last month, the NIA arrested Zameer Ahmad Ahangar and Tufail Ahmad Bhat from Jammu and Kashmir for their active involvement in the conspiracy related to the Delhi blast.

An application filed by the agency on the same day said that several accused were required to be confronted to interpret the "radical material" extracted from their digital devices.

It said that an expert from Jamia Millia Islamia here had been requested to provide an interpretation report after thorough analysis of the radical material to ascertain the contents of the "fundamentalist or extremist nature" of these literatures and articles in the Arabic language, seeking to "promote or propagate violent jihad" and "preparation of bombs through household everyday articles and chemicals".

The agency, in its application, said that the WhatsApp groups used by the accused persons had been identified and the investigation pertaining to the identification of members of the WhatsApp group 'AGuH' (Ansar Gazwat ul Hind) was underway.

It said that a technical analysis had been conducted, besides intercepting certain mobile phone numbers, including WhatsApp Legal Interception (VoIP), to identify other members subscribing to the radical or jihadi ideology of the terror module and to identify the potential associates and handlers of the arrested accused.

The plea said that details obtained from the "legal interception" would be confronted with the arrested accused.

Detailing the investigation report regarding six accused persons, it said that Amir Rashid Mir procured the second-hand car, which was used by the deceased Dr Umar-un-Nabi.

Nabi was driving an explosives-laden Hyundai i20 car that detonated outside the Red Fort in the national capital on November 10, killing 15 people and injuring several others.

NIA's plea said that Jasir Bilal Wani, alias Danish, was involved in preparing to commit a terrorist attack by testing weapons and explosives along with Nabi and other co-accused persons.

It said the investigation revealed that Mufti Irfan Ahmad Wagay was an active member of AGuH (Ansar Gazwat ul Hind), an affiliate of a proscribed organisation and that he motivated or radicalised youths to commit terror acts under the aegis of AGuH for self-sacrificial/ martyrdom operations.

He also aided and abetted the deceased Nabi (since deceased) in the instant case and conspired and planned a terrorist act with others, the plea said.

According to NIA's application, Dr Muzamil Shakeel Ganie was also a member of AGuH and conspired with Nabi by arranging logistics and procurement of raw material used in the blast, besides procuring and hiding weapons and fabricating or making explosives and IEDS which were used in the present case.

It said that Dr Adeel Ahmad Rather, another AGuH member, had a similar role to Ganie and had arranged arms and ammunition to wage war and commit terrorist acts against the country.

The agency's application said that Dr Shaheen Saeed, also an AGUH member, provided logistics and "huge financial support" to Ganie and Nabi, besides arranging logistics and procurement of raw material used in the present "terrorist act".

On February 13, the court had also granted 45 more days to the agency to conclude its investigation on the NIA's plea seeking a 90-day extension on the ground of probing further the financial and digital links of the accused.