ATS once again takes custody of Pune software engineer held for 'terror' links

Pune: The Maharashtra ATS has once again taken the custody of software engineer Zubair Hangargekar, arrested two months back for alleged links with banned outfits such as Al Qaeda and Al Qaeda in the Indian Subcontinent as well as suspected involvement in radicalisation activities.

Hangargekar, who was earlier in judicial custody, was sent to the Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) remand till January 3 by a special court hearing cases pertaining to the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA).

"The ATS took Hangargekar into its custody on Wednesday. The court has remanded him to the ATS custody till January 3," an official said.

Under the UAPA, the maximum period of police custody for an accused in terror cases is 30 days.

Hangargekar (37) was arrested on October 27 for his alleged links with banned terror outfits.

"Following his arrest, Hangargekar was in the ATS custody for 18 days. He was then sent in judicial custody after the probe agency last month sought his judicial custody while reserving the rights of his police custody. Hence, the remaining period of the ATS custody was in balance," an official said.

The court has now once again remanded him into ATS custody, he said.

The ATS has earlier said that during the investigation, it found a Pakistani contact number saved on Hangargekar's old phone.

During the analysis of the contact list of the phone, five international phone numbers were found saved - one from Pakistan, two from Saudi Arabia, and one each from Kuwait and Oman. The call detail records of the phone, however, do not show any calls to these saved numbers, the ATS earlier said.

The prosecution told the court that Hangargekar was questioned about the numbers, including one from Pakistan, but he had claimed he was unable to recall anything related to them.

The ATS earlier told a Pune court that Hangargekar allegedly used to deliver religious discourses "aggressively" in the city's Kondhwa area.

During a house search there, the ATS seized mobile phones containing deleted PDF files titled 'Al Qaeda in the Indian Subcontinent (AQIS) and All Its Manifestations', it had said.

They also recovered an Urdu translation of a speech delivered by the late Al-Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden on Eid-ul-Fitr.

In addition, a magazine titled 'Inspire' was found, containing photographs of AK-47 training at the OSG Gun School and documents detailing the procedure to make an IED using acetone peroxide from an OSG bomb school, it told the court.