UAPA- Delhi Court Remands Khurram Parvez & Two Others To NIA Custody Till February 25 In Alleged Terror Funding Case

A Delhi Court on Monday remanded human rights activist Khurram Parvez and two others namely Muneer Ahmad Kataria and Arshid Ahmad Tonch to NIA custody till February 25 in connection with an alleged terror funding case. 

Special NIA Judge Parveen Singh was dealing with an application filed by National Investigation Agency (NIA) seeking 7 days police custody of the accused persons.

"I am of the opinion that after the arrest of ADS Negi certain new material which pertained to these accused needs to scrutinized and at the same time connectivity of these accused with the said accused and the extent of the conspiracy inter se these accused needs to ascertained," the Court said.

The Court was also of the view that the data recently received from CERT IN needed to be put to accused persons and therefore their custodial examination was essential.

"Accused Muneer Ahmad Chowdhary, Arshid Ahmad Tonch and Khurram Parvez are remanded to police custody of NIA till 25.02.2022. The concerned jail authorities are directed to hand the custody of the above named accused to NIA," the Court added.

The Judge directed that after taking the custody of accused persons, they shall be medically examined and thereafter be medically examined in every 24 hours.

The Court also directed that after the expiry of remand period and before production of the accused persons before the court, the CIO shall have the COVID-19 test conducted of the accused. 

"It is further directed that during the period the accused person remain in police custody, their counsels shall be allowed to meet them every day for 15 minutes between 4.00 p.m to 5.00 p.m. However, during the meeting of the lawyer with accused, the IO or NIA officials will be at a distance where from they can see the counsel but will not be at hearing distance," the Court ordered.

This comes after the Court had earlier this month extended the judicial custody of the three accused to further 40 days in the matter.

While Parvez was arrested on 22nd November last year, Muneer Ahmad and Arshid Ahmad were arrested on 16th and 18th November respectively. 

It was the case of the prosecution that the analysis of CERT-In examination report of accused Muneer revealed that certain official and sensitive documents related to NIA cases were found in his digital devices. It was also alleged that a large number of suspicious transactions were found in the bank account statements of Muncer Ahmad and Arshid Ahmad Tonch and that the said evidences needed to be confronted with the accused persons.

Furthermore, it was submitted that the analysis of CERT-In examination report of Arshid Ahmad Tonch revealed many photographs and videos of sensitive locations and also movement of Army convoys.

Furthermore, it was alleged that during the analysis of extracted social media data and emails of accused Khurram, various incriminates chats related to proscribed terrorist organization were found and that there was a need to confront the same with accused persons.

While the counsel appearing for Khurram submitted that the interrogation can be done in judicial custody and no police remand was required, counsel for Muneer Ahmad argued that his lawyer may be permitted to meet him every day during police remand.

About the Case

It is the prosecution's case that Pakistan based terrorist organization Lashkar E-Taiba (LeT), had established a widespread network of operatives or over ground workers for providing support in planning and execution of its terrorist activities in various parts of India. 

It was alleged that accused Muneer Ahmad, Arshid Ahmad and Jaffar had been running a network of over ground workers of LeT and recruited persons across various States in India. In pursuance to conspiracy, accused were allegedly in contact with their foreign based handlers and upon their directions were engaged in gathering intelligence on vital installations, security forces as well as identification of target locations for launching of terrorist attacks. 

It has further been alleged that during investigation, searches were conducted at various places across Delhi, Himachal Pradesh, Bihar, Jammu & Kashmir and West Bengal and incriminating documents and objects were seized and arrests were made. 

It is the NIA's case that during the course of investigation, it was disclosed that accused Muneer Ahmad and Arshid Ahmad Tonch had received money from various individuals in West Bengal, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Telangana and Karnataka.

It was further submitted that during investigation, it was revealed that large number of fictitious bank accounts in the name of different individuals were being maintained. 

Advocate Prabhav Ralli appeared for accused Khuram Parvaiz. Advocates Sanya Kumar appeared for accused Muneer Ahmad and Advocate Manoj Kumar appeared for Arshid Ahmad. Special Public Prosecutor Rahul Tyagi appeared for NIA.