2 min readNew DelhiFeb 27, 2016 02:56 AM IST
First published on: Feb 27, 2016 at 02:56 AM IST
Areeb Majeed
As part of the National Investigation Agency’s (NIA) probe against Areeb Majeed, a letter rogatory (LR) is being sent to China, seeking electronic evidence in the case. Majeed, a civil engineering student from Maharashtra’s Thane district, joined the Islamic State (IS) in Syria and Iraq and returned to India in November 2014.
[related-post]
Investigations revealed that Majeed communicated with his recruiters and IS associates through various electronic and social media platforms, and the server of one such platform is located in China, sources said.
Meanwhile, sources revealed that Australian authorities are yet to share with the NIA details regarding subscriber information, login history, IP details, search history and contents of messages and attachments of the email id majeedareeb@yahoo.com that Majeed is reported to have used for a substantial part of his communication in Syria, Iraq and India. Since the Yahoo server is located in Australia, the country’s authorities were approached for assistance more than six months ago.
In October 2015, The Indian Express had reported that the NIA was facing an unexpected hurdle in the Majeed probe from Australia, which had raised concerns about the death sentence in India.
For securing the information, the NIA took up the matter through the Home Ministry. The Australian Attorney General’s office sought certain clarifications related to death penalty.
A Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty between the two countries contains a provision allowing Australia’s Attorney General to take a decision even if the offence attracts death penalty in the foreign country. Sources said, in late August 2015, the Attorney General’s office sought clarifications and the NIA gave its response to the Home Ministry in mid-September of 2015.
Sources revealed that Australia raised Section 34-C of Extradition Act, which states that in case “the laws of a foreign state do not provide for death penalty for an offence, a fugitive criminal shall be liable only for life imprisonment for that offence”. The NIA has been arguing that this is not a case of extradition, but merely a request for evidence from a foreign country in an ongoing probe.
Areeb Majeed
Share
