On Tuesday, a special court in Maharashtra ordered that the National probe Agency (NIA) take over the probe into the purported terror plot case, in which five people had already been detained.
According to public prosecutor (ATS) Vijay Fargade, the special court further ordered the ATS to provide the NIA custody of all five accused people and gave the agency transit remand.
The Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act and the Arms Act, together with sections 379 (penalty of stealing), 468 (forgery for the purpose of cheating), and 511 (punishment for trying to commit crimes), have all been registered by the NIA as new offenses in Mumbai.
According to Fargade, the court has given the NIA permission to conduct the investigation and take custody of the five suspects, Mohammad Imran Mohammad Yunus Khan (23), Mohd Yunus Mohammad Yakub Saki (24), Zulfikar Ali Barodawala, and Qadir Dastgir.
Another arrested suspect’s identity is withheld.
The Maharashtra ATS detained four of the five suspects, while the NIA had custody of Barodawala.
Last month, while stealing a motorbike in Pune, Khan and Saki were apprehended by police in the Kothrud neighborhood, but Shahnawaz Alam was able to flee.
According to investigators, Saki and Khan were the suspected members of the Al-Sufa organization who fled from Ratlam after the NIA made several arrests in the case. They were sought by the NIA in connection with a March 2022 terror plan in Rajasthan.
The NIA had previously informed the Pune court that they had opened a new case in Mumbai and requested that the court also order the NIA chief investigating officer to be given access to all of the case files, including witness testimonies, material documents, and case diaries.
The NIA informed the special court that “the Central government is of the opinion that scheduled offences under the National Investigation Act have been committed, and having regard to the gravity of the offences and its inter-state linkages, it is required that the NIA be investigated by the NIA,” and urged it to also transfer judicial records to the NIA Special Court in Mumbai.
Fargade said that when the ATS gave over custody of the five accused in court, the judge granted the NIA transit remand of the five suspects.
According to the ATS, Qadir Dastgir provided refuge for Khan and Saki throughout their 16-month concealment in Pune’s Kondhwa neighborhood.
In Ratnagiri, Maharashtra, the ATS had detained one person—the fifth suspect—for allegedly giving Khan and Saki financial support.
Barodawala, who had already been detained by the NIA, was the “mastermind” who oversaw Saki and Khan and provided assistance.
The ATS claimed to have found several incriminating materials, including chemical powder, a drone camera, bomb-making supplies, two handguns, five rounds, one automobile, enormous amounts of electronic data, and pictures of the Chabad House in south Mumbai, one of the 26/11 terror attack locations.
According to the authorities, Khan and Saki are suspected of conducting explosive tests in the nearby forests of Pune.
Sources close to the inquiry claim that Barodawala trained some of his close friends to make bombs with the assistance of Khan and Saki.
