Hinting at the terror connection of an accused in the diplomatic baggage gold smuggling case, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) said Muhammad Ali, the 12th accused, had made telephone calls to members of proscribed terror organisations, ISIS and SIMI.
The counsel for the agency made the revelation at the NIA special court on Monday when the bail applications of some of the accused were considered.
Money transactions
According to the agency, the call data analysis of the accused pointed at large money transactions. Huge volumes of data were recovered from his gadgets. The agency had obtained mirror images of 17 electronic gadgets seized from various accused in the case. The pandemic had delayed the analysis of the digital devices. The accused needed to be confronted with the evidence obtained from the digital devices and the confessional statement from one of the accused, the agency said.
The counsel for the NIA also submitted that the agency had laid its hands on some of the documents forged by Sandeep Nair, the first accused in the case.
Plea for bail
The lawyers for the accused argued that those with minimal role in the offence should be released on bail and not kept in jail along with the other accused. If the agency wanted to interrogate them, their presence would be ensured, they contended.
The lawyers submitted that there was no justification for denying bail to those not facing serious charges. The court can ensure the presence of the accused by cancelling the bail, they argued. They also contended that the NIA was adopting ‘delay tactics’ in the court to deny bail to the accused.
Till tomorrow
However, the NIA counsel said the remand of a few accused was necessary till Wednesday for interrogation. The court accepted the contention and extended the remand till Wednesday. The court is likely to pronounce its decision on the bail application of a batch of accused on Thursday.
The court has also posted the bail application of P.S. Sarith and Swapna Suresh, the first and second accused in the case, for October 15.
