Court to consider NIA's clean chit to Liyaqat on May 7

A court on Monday fixed May 7 for considering a chargesheet filed by the NIA in which it gave a clean chit to Liyaqat Shah who was arrested by Delhi Police on the charge of coming to India to carry out terror attacks in March 2013.

District Judge Amar Nath, during in-camera proceedings, deferred the hearing in the case for May 7 after saying that it had not received official communication from Delhi High court to hear the case, said court sources.

The NIA on January 24 dropped charges against Shah in a chargesheet filed against Sabir Khan Pathan alleging that the latter was responsible for placing weapons and explosives in a guest house room near Jama Masjid here.

Delhi Police have alleged that on the basis of Shah's disclosure, the Special Cell raided the Haji Arafat Guest House near Jama Masjid and recovered arms, ammunition and explosives.

The NIA had filed a chargesheet against Pathan under charges dealing with forgery and various sections of the Arms Act and the Explosive Substances Act. Pathan is on the run.

Shah was arrested by the Special Cell of Delhi Police on March 20, 2013, while he was returning from Pakistan-occupied Kashmir to the Kashmir Valley via Nepal.

He was later released on bail. Jammu and Kashmir Police had protested the arrest, saying Shah was returning home as per the state government's policy of allowing people, who had ex-filtrated to PoK in the early 1990s, to come back.