Darbhanga railway station blast case: NIA gets custody of 2 accused LeT terrorists

Hyderabad: The National Investigation Agency (NIA) was given seven-day custody of Mohammad Nasir Khan and Imran Khan, the Hyderabad-based brothers who are accused of being Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) activists, by a court in Patna. They are being investigated for their alleged involvement in the Darbhanga railway station parcel blast case.

Sources said that NIA had sought 10-day' custodial remand. The brothers were arrested from Hyderabad on June 30 and were taken to Patna via flight on Friday morning.

The NIA plea to invoke Section 16 (punishment for terrorist act) and Section 18 (punishment for conspiracy to attempt, advocate, abet, advice, incite, knowingly facilitating commission of a terrorist act) of The Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Amendment Act, 2019 was accepted by the court.

A parcel containing women’s clothing, which was sent via train from Secunderabad, had exploded while it was being unloaded on Platform 1 of the Darbhanga station on June 17.

The NIA alleged that Nasir had visited Pakistan in 2012 and was trained by the LeT in making improvised explosive devices (IED) from easily available chemicals, The NIA alleged that the brothers were acting on their Pakistan-based handlers' direction. The duo are originally natives of Kairana in Shamli, Uttar Pradesh, and settled in Hyderabad two decades ago, the NIA said.

The duo has been sent to Beur central jail before the NIA takes custody and starts questioning them from Saturday. The Bihar police sources said that an interrogation cell had been prepared inside the Bihar Special Armed Police premises for interrogating Nasir and Imran.

Sources said that the brothers were interrogated by a joint team of the ATS and the Intelligence Bureau for hours. The NIA is expected to make more arrests in the terror plot, informed the sources.

Meanwhile, the NIA arrested two alleged conspirators — Mohammed Salim Ahmed alias Haji Salim and Kafil alias Kafeel — also wanted in the case, in Uttar Pradesh on Friday. They are said to be associated with the LeT. Preliminary investigation revealed that the two finalised the plan of planting the IED in a moving train to cause casualties