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New Delhi, July 4: Delhi police today refused to hand over Abu Jundal to the National Investigation Agency, saying it had already questioned him.
The alleged 26/11 handler, who was arrested on June 21 after being deported by Saudi Arabian authorities, was remanded in police custody till July 5.
Opposing the NIA plea, Delhi police told a lower court that the federal agency officials had questioned him jointly with police. The NIA sought to clarify that the interrogation was not in connection with an FIR registered against Jundal on June 8 for allegedly amassing explosives to carry out blasts in India.
“The joint interrogation was only in connection with the November 2008 Mumbai terror attack case,” the NIA counsel told the court.
After hearing arguments from both sides, the court deferred its decision on the NIA’s plea till tomorrow, the day Delhi police’s custody of Jundal expires.
Last week, two other agencies — Maharashtra ATS and Mumbai crime branch —moved the same court separately seeking Jundal’s custody. Both cases will come up for hearing tomorrow.
Mumbai crime branch officials had told the court that the 26/11 attack took place in their jurisdiction, so they were well within their rights to seek Jundal’s custody. They said they needed to bring Jundal face to face with Ajmal Kasab as he was the only person who could identify him.
The Maharashtra ATS had told the court that it needed to question Jundal in connection with serial blasts in Mumbai since 2006. The Delhi police had opposed both pleas.
Fasih extradition
The Centre will take all possible steps to extradite terror suspect Fasih Mohammed from Saudi Arabia, home minister P. Chidambaram has said.
“He is in Saudi Arabia. He was detained there. Steps will be taken to extradite him to India,” he said.
An engineer by profession, 28-year-old Fasih is alleged to have been involved in the April 2010 Chinnaswamy Stadium blast in Bangalore and a shooting near Delhi’s Jama Masjid in September the same year. He is wanted by Delhi and Karnataka police.
Chidambaram said a red-corner notice had been issued against Fasih. “He is wanted in several cases,” he said.
On requests from the Karnataka and Delhi police, the CBI had asked Interpol to issue the notice. Soon after, Saudi authorities informed security agencies that they had picked up Fasih.
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