Three suspected members of terror outfit Jaish-e-Mohammed, arrested for allegedly planning an attack in the national capital, were remanded to 10-day police custody on 4 May, by a court. The investigators said their custodial interrogation was needed to crack their Delhi module.
“The accused persons are sent to police custody till May 14,” the court said.
During the proceedings, police told Additional Sessions Judge Reetesh Singh that Mohammad Sajid was arrested. Reportedly, Improvised Explosive Device (IED) was recovered from him, while his hand was found to be burned while making explosives.
The agency while seeking 15-day custody told the court that the two other accused Shakir and Sameer were later arrested and some literature related to the terror organisation were recovered from them.
Delhi Police’s Special Cell has recovered 11 batteries, two timer devices, three pipes and over 250 grams of suspected explosive substance from the trio’s possession. They had got trained in making IEDs through online sources, Special Commissioner of Police (Special Cell) Arvind Deep said.
He said, the troika’s link with Jaish-e-Mohammed outfit was traced through “technical input”. Shakir, he claimed, was to leave for Pakistan soon and was in touch with a relative of Maulana Masood Azhar.
During the interrogation, they have claimed to have told police about planned serial strikes in popular markets in the city and places with high footfall, Deep said. He said their source of finance and explosives is yet to be ascertained.
The trio and a few detained by the police are members of a WhatsApp group within which they allegedly shared details about the terror outfit. On 20 December they had organised a meeting at Sajid’s east Delhi residence where “views of the outfit were propagated”, Deep said.
The three have been arrested under provisions of Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act and Section 120 B (criminal conspiracy) of IPC. Special Cell teams are conducting raids and more arrests are likely, Deep added.
Those who have been detained for questioning at the Special Cell office in Lodhi Colony in Delhi includes a youth, who works as manager at the workshop of an automobile company.
While two of them are residents of Loni in Ghaziabad, others are from east Delhi’s Chand Bagh locality, sources said. The explosive substance has been sent for forensic examination. Further investigation is underway, police said.
(At The Quint, we are answerable only to our audience. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member. Because the truth is worth it.)