Delhi Police was given preference over NIA to quiz IM men Tehseen Akhtar and Zia-ur-Rahman, alias Waqas by a court here as the continuity in the probe done by the local cops, who caught them, would have been broken if they were handed over to the federal agency.
Earlier the unsavoury controversy generated by the National Investigative Agency (NIA) while trying to seek the custody of Indian Mujahideen’s (IM) top operatives Zia-ur-Rahman, alias Waqas and Tehseen Akhtar, alias Monu has stirred a hornet’s nest. These two hardened terrorists were arrested by the Special Cell of the Delhi Police and are in police custody. The NIA fielded a battery of lawyers on Wednesday in Patiala House courts and there were heated exchanges between the counsels of NIA and Delhi Police.
While senior police officials of several States visited Special Cell officials to exchange notes and also see the interrogation details, NIA officials never communicated with Delhi Police top brass about the interrogation details but sought to snatch the two prized catch by claiming that they were the federal agency against terror hence they must get the custody. This was refuted by Delhi Police as it succeeded in convincing the judge at Patiala House courts that the police custody of Waqas and Monu was needed as the investigation was in the crucial stage. Interestingly, the constitution of the NIA makes it mandatory for the agency to wait for the Ministry of Home Affairs’ (MHA) sanction to start investigations of a terror attack and module. It can not start investigations on it own.
Delhi Police would have been left twiddling its thumbs if NIA has succeeded in getting the police custody of Pakistan national Waqas and Monu for questioning for their roles in Dilsukhnagar blasts of Hyderabad. The NIA was transferred the case by the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) but it has not succeeded in arresting all the accused persons. Sources said that Central security agencies have started dealing with Special Cell directly for operations against IM after a senior NIA official had leaked the arrest of IM’s India chief Yasin Bhatkal to the media. This NIA official who had also worked with the CBI and handled high profile cases was repatriated to his parent Kerala cadre. His premature leak had caused irreparable damage to the ongoing operation against the IM and its sympathisers by the Intelligence Bureau (IB).
Many in the Central security agencies were flabbergasted after the information of Bhatkal’s arrest was leaked within minutes. This led to IM men being alerted and they all went underground. It took intense investigations by Special Cell and the central security agencies to dig out Waqas and Monu. With their arrest Delhi Police has neutralised the entire leadership of IM and efforts are on to get the fringe elements too, source said on Wednesday.
NIA is believed to have botched up the investigations pertaining to Narendra Modi’s 27th October, 2013 rally at Patna. Haider, alias Black Beauty, a hardcore activist of Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI) managed to flee after the amateur handling by the NIA team officials who started summoning suspects for questioning and thus, alerting Haider to escape.