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Anti-terror NIA
The Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) has questioned a teacher in Thane in connection with the arrest of a Pune-based software engineer for his alleged links with Al Qaeda and other banned outfits, officials said on Wednesday. The teacher's house at Mumbra in Thane district was used for one of the meetings by the arrested engineer, Zubair Hangargekar, they said. The ATS nabbed Hangargekar (37) on October 27 for his alleged links with banned outfits, such as Al Qaeda and Al Qaeda in the Indian Subcontinent, and for his suspected involvement in radicalisation activities. During the investigation, the ATS had found a Pakistani contact number saved on his old phone. While probing further, the ATS learned that Hangargekar had visited Mumbra for one of his meetings. Accordingly, the ATS officials visited the teacher's house on Tuesday and enquired about Hangargekar and his meeting, an official said. The teacher is neither an accused nor a witness in the case, he said. The ATS tol
The legal principle 'Bail is rule, jail is an exception' is applicable to offences even under special statutes like the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, the Supreme Court on Tuesday ruled while granting bail to a man accused under the stringent anti-terror law. A bench of justices Abhay S Oka and Augustine George Masih said if courts start denying bail in deserving cases, it will be a violation of fundamental rights. "Allegations of the prosecution may be very serious, but it is court's duty to consider the case for bail in accordance with law. Bail is the rule and jail is the exception applies even to special statutes. If courts start denying bail in deserving cases, it will be a violation of rights guaranteed under Article 21," the bench said while pronouncing its judgement. The verdict came while releasing a man named Jalaluddin Khan on bail. Khan was booked under the stringent provisions of the UAPA and other sections of now defunct Indian Penal Code for renting out upper .
A special court here on Saturday granted the National Investigation Agency the custody of 11 Popular Front of India (PFI) activists, who were arrested on September 22. The NIA special court granted the custody till September 30. The accused, who were taken to the court, raised slogans against the probe agency. However, a lawyer representing some of the accused said the court asked them to avoid sloganeering as it was ready to hear them. The National Investigation Agency (NIA) has raised serious allegations against the PFI and its arrested leaders, and claimed that the seized documents during the raids contain highly incriminating materials targeting prominent leaders of a particular community. In a remand report submitted before the court seeking custody of 10 accused in a case registered here, the agency also alleged that the radical Islamist outfit encouraged youths to join terrorist groups, including Lashkar-e-Taiba, Islamic State (IS) and Al-Qaida. In near simultaneous raids
The National Investigation Agency on Thursday morning launched a massive nationwide search operation against groups, including PFI, and individuals allegedly supporting terrorists, officials said. In the "largest ever investigation till date", the searches are taking place at the premises of those allegedly involved in terror funding, organising training camps, and radicalising people to join proscribed organisations, they said. "The raids are taking place at the homes of national, state and local leaders of PFI. The state committee office is also being raided. "We strongly protest the fascist regime's moves to use agencies to silence dissenting voices," the outfit said in a statement.