NIA opposes Areeb Majeed’s bail

Majeed had claimed in his plea that his return from Turkey to India was arranged and facilitated by high-ranking diplomatic officials in coordination with the NIA. The central agency in its reply has called this claim “false, incorrect and baseless”, stating that there is evidence to prove that Majeed had returned “with some ulterior motive”.

The NIA has claimed that Majeed was arrested by the Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad from Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport on November 28, 2014 at 7.30am. The NIA claims that it took Majeed’s custody from the ATS the following day at Kalachowkie. A plea seeking CCTV footage from the Mumbai airport and Call Data Records of Majeed’s father, Ejaz, to show that he was in touch with senior officials of the consulate in Turkey and of the NIA, is pending before the court.

The NIA has also rejected Majeed’s claim that his social media accounts were hacked into. The agency claims that when he was in the NIA’s custody, Majeed had voluntarily disclosed information about his various social media accounts in presence of independent witnesses.

On Majeed’s plea that the Islamic State was declared a banned terrorist organisation only after the FIR was registered against him in November 2014, the NIA has said that the IS was banned by the United Nations Security Council in August 2014, which was binding on all member states, including India. The court will hear arguments on the bail plea next month.