Court sends IS suspects to 12-day police custody

A Delhi court on Thursday sent 10 persons, arrested for being a part of a module of the Islamic State (IS), to police custody for 12 days, officials said.

Vacation Judge Ajay Pandey allowed their police custody till January 8.

The members of the IS module, "Harkat-ul-Harb-e-Islam", were presented in the court amid tight security. The National Investigation Agency (NIA) demanded their custody for 15 days.

Appearing for NIA, the counsel told the judge that the agency wants the custody of the 10 arrested people for 15 days as they need to be taken to several outstation locations.

Opposing NIA's demand, counsel for the arrsted people M.S. Khan said that the "agency has said everything in the press conference yesterday and everything is there in the media".

The judge then pronounced 12-days police custody of the 10 people.

Later an NIA investigator requesting anonymity told IANS that the court has also allowed the agency to put handcuffs of all 10 accused during the police custody as they are involved in "serious terrorist activities".

The NIA had arrested them on Wednesday, including the group leader, as they were allegedly planning terror attacks targeting some political personalities and security establishments as well as crowded places in Delhi and the national capital region.

The judge also allowed the family members of six of the accused to meet them in the court. However, one of the family members was denied the facility as he was not having his identity proof.

Earlier, NIA had carried out searches at 17 places -- six in East Delhi's Jafarabad area, six in Uttar Pradesh's Amroha, two each in Lucknow and Hapur and one place in Meerut.

Six others, who are suspected to be members of the group, have been detained and they are being questioned.

The agency had registered a case on December 20 under several sections of the Indian Penal Code, the Explosive Substances Act and the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act.

A country-made rocket launcher, 12 pistols, 112 alarm clocks, 100 mobile phones, 135 SIM cards, many laptops and various electronic gadgets, besides 150 rounds of ammunition were also recovered during the searches.

The NIA also seized 25 kg of explosive material, such as potassium nitrate, ammonium nitrate, sulphur, sugar material paste, mobile phone circuits, batteries, 51 pipes, remote control car triggering switch, wireless digital doorbell for remote switch, steel containers, electric wires, knife, sword, IS-related literature and Rs 7.5 lakh in cash.

The agency arrested Mufti Mohammad Suhail, the group leader, Saeed, 28, Raees Ahmed, Saqib Iftekar, 26 and Mohammad Irshad from Amroha.

Among the other accused are Anas Yunus, 24, a B. Tech student of Amity University in Noida, Rashid Zafar Raq, 23, Zubair Malik, 20 and his brother Zaid Malik, 22 and Mohammad Azam, 35, from Delhi's Jafarabad area.

--IANS

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