Cuttack, May 15: The court of the judicial magistrate first class (JMFC), Salipur, today adjourned sending to trial the case of Abdul Rahman, a cleric with alleged al Qaida links, to the district and sessions court, Cuttack, till May 29.

He will now be taken back to the Tihar Jail in Delhi.

"The JMFC, Salipur, deferred committal of the Abdul Rehman case to the district and sessions court as the Special Task Force (STF) of the crime branch police did not provide a copy of the chargesheet for his defence," Rehman's counsel Arun Kumar Mohanty said.

All criminal cases start in the magistrate's court. This court deals with less serious indictable offences. More serious offences must be sent to the district and sessions court by a process called a committal.

The 38-year-old Rahman was arrested from his village - Paschimagacha in Jagatpur police station limits in the city - by a joint team of Delhi and Odisha police on December 16, 2015. His arrest followed Delhi's counter terrorism unit's success in nabbing Mohammad Asif, a key operative of al Qaida in Indian subcontinent.

The STF had taken up the case after a case was registered against Rahman for allegedly indulging in unlawful and terrorist activities, waging war against the State and spotting potential for jihadi activities under the guise of running a madarsa.

The STF had submitted a 500-odd page chargesheet before the court of the JMFC, Salipur on December 28 last year. The case was fixed for committal today. Accordingly, an STF team had brought Rahman from Tihar Jail as his presence was necessary for hearing of committal of the case.

When the case came up today, Rahman's counsel pointed out to the court that he had not been provided with a copy of the chargesheet. On asked by the court, the STF officials said they were unable to provide a copy of the chargesheet to Rahman's counsel.

"Taking note of it, JMFC Kailash Chandra Sahu posted committal of the case to May 29 and ordered for production of Rahman before his court on that day," Rahman's counsel said.

Rahman was remanded back to judicial custody in Tihar Jail in Delhi as he is to be presented in the Patiala House Court in New Delhi in connection with other cases.

Crime branch sources said investigations had revealed that Rahman allegedly acted mostly as facilitator and his role was restricted to recruitment of youths, mostly young children, through his Tangi-based madarsa.

Popularly known as Kataki, Rahman was also allegedly involved in recruiting youth through his hate speeches in different parts of the country. Rahman used to allegedly give provocative speeches and his voice in various CDs has been matched through voice spectrography at the State Forensic Laboratory in Bhubaneswar, the sources said.