The Judicial Magistrate First Class (JFMC) Court of Salepur in Cuttack district on Wednesday allowed the Special Task Force (STF) of the Crime Branch (CB) to take suspected al-Qaeda operative Mohammed Abdur Rehman Katki on remand for 15 days.
The JFMC Curt recommended the Tis Hazari Court in New Delhi to allow the STF to take the al-Qaeda operative on remand from May 25 for 15 days, Crime Branch sources said.
The court has, however, stated in its order that the Tis Hazari Court would decide on the quantum of the remand period. Rehman is currently in the remand of the Jharkhand police.
It may be recalled here that the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Court of Delhi onMarch 29 this year had rejected the STF’s plea seeking a 15-day remand of Rehman. The court, in its ruling, had then said the application had not been made within the required timeframe.
Earlier in March, the Salepur JMFC Court too had allowed the STF’s plea seeking a 14-day remand of Rehman.
Notably, the Delhi police and Odisha’s Twin City Commissionerate Police had arrested 37-year-old Rehman from his house in the wee hours of December 16last in a joint operation. He had been picked up from his house in Satabatia village in the Paschimakachha area under the Jagatpur police limits.
later, he was booked under provisions of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act.
Rehman, who ran a madrasa at Tangi near Cuttack, allegedly had links with a man involved in a failed car bomb attack at the Glasgow international airport in 2007, Odisha police had alleged.
Further, the police also had said that he is a member of al-Qaeda in Indian Subcontinent (AQIS) and was radicalising youth for terror activities.