Court sends 12 terror suspects to NIA custody till February 5

New Delhi: Twelve terror suspects, arrested from across the nation for their alleged links with ISIS, were involved in recruiting and financing persons willing to join the ISIS in Syria, NIA on Monday claimed in a special court which sent them to the agency's custody till February 5.

During an in-camera proceeding, Special NIA Judge Amar Nath, remanded the 12 accused to 11-day police custody after the agency submitted that their custodial interrogation was needed to unearth the conspiracy of ISIS to spread its reach in India.

The accused's faces were muffled when they were produced in the court amid tight security. The National Investigation Agency (NIA) sought 14 days of custody of the accused, saying they will be interrogated to collect more evidence about their activities and network and their presence might also be required at different places for identification and corroboration of their statements.

"During their preliminary interrogation, all the accused persons have disclosed many facts about their involvement in this case about recruiting and financing persons, willing to join the caliphate of ISIS at Syria," it said.

According to the sources, the probe agency informed the court that the accused were arrested for allegedly planning to carry out attacks ahead of the Republic Day.

The 12 accused produced before the court were Bangalore residents Mohd Abdul Ahad, Mohd Afzal and Suhail Ahmed, Hyderabad's Mohd Shareef Moinuddin Khan and Mohd Obaidullah Khan, Mumbai-based Mudabbir Mushtaq Shaikh and Mohd Hussain Khan, Lucknow resident Mohd Aleem, Aurangabad resident Imran, Asif Ali from Tamil Nadu, Syed Mujahid and Najmul Huda from Karnataka.

Advocate M S Khan, who appeared for 10 of the 12 arrested accused, opposed the NIA's plea contending that the FIR has been lodged by the agency merely on suspicion and no terror act was carried out by any of them. Khan also argued that the accused were arrested on January 22 and 23 and were in NIA's custody since then. Hence, there was no need to remand them to the agency's custody any more.