The National Investigating Agency (NIA) was, on Friday, granted permission to interrogate Indian Mujahideen (IM) co-founder Yasin Bhatkal and his close associate Asadullah Akhtar for 12 days.
A city court granted the plea by NIA seeking 14-day custodial interrogation of the duo to unearth the larger conspiracy behind the terror attacks. Meanwhile, advocate MS Khan, appearing for both the accused, opposed the claim of NIA that arrested terrorist is Yasin Bhatkal saying that the person produced before court is Mohammed Ahmed. After hearing the argument, the court said, “In the present application, it is stated
that Mohammed Ahmed Siddibapa is Yasin Bhatkal and he is the same person against whom the non-bailable warrants (NBWs) were issued. looking into the contents of the application, I grant custody to the NIA for 12 days for further investigation.” During the in-camera proceeding, Khan argued that different State agencies are investigating the cases in their own way and also added that there is no material against both the accused.
Meanwhile, NIA also moved a separate application seeking permission to handcuff both Bhatkal and Akhtar while taking them to different States for further investigation. The plea was allowed by the court. According to NIA, Bhatkal is one of the most wanted terrorists involved in around 40 terror ops and carries a reward of Rs 35 lakh. He was arrested from the Indo-Nepal border on Wednesday night. He hails from the Bhatkal village of Udupi district in North Karnataka and is wanted in a string of terror attacks in Ahmedabad, Surat, Bangalore, Pune, Delhi and Hyderabad.