Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad gets 8 more days’ custody of five held for alleged PFI links

The ATS on Thursday had arrested Mazhar Mansoor Khan, Shaikh Sadique Isak Qureshi, Mohammed Iqbal Mohammed Ibrahim Khan, Momin Mohiuddin Gulam Hasan and Aasif Aminul Hussain Khan. They were sent to the ATS’ custody till Monday.

The ATS sought their custody for another 14 days seeking to probe whether they have any links with these terrorist organisations and analyse the electronic evidence further.

The defence lawyers said there was nothing left to be recovered from the accused and their arrests were not made as per law.

The ATS said it had recovered a copy about the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act and the judgment in the German Bakery blast case from Qureshi, a practising lawyer. It was also submitted that the lawyer had represented PFI members in some cases.

The defence lawyers stated it cannot be said that keeping these documents is illegal as Qureshi is a lawyer and providing legal aid is also not illegal. The defence lawyers sought for the production of the seized CDs and literature from the accused. An application was also filed stating that the accused do not want to give any statements or confessions. The court said the investigating officer cannot be restrained from taking statements or confessions.

Special Judge A M Patil said the investigating officer could have probed more in respect of seized records and seeking further 14 days custody is not proper and granted eight days of custody.