Hyderabad: The Hyderabad High Court on Thursday questioned the National Investigation Agency how it could seek police custody of an accused after 15 days of arrest.
A vacation bench comprising Justice U. Durga Prasad Rao and Justice Abhinand Kumar Shavali was hearing a petition by Additional Superintendent of NIA, challenging an order of the Special NIA Court at Visakhapatnam refusing to grant police custody of Md. Mahaboob Baig and Syed Imran.
The duo was caught by the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) at Visakhapatnam on March 31 while smuggling fake currency notes with a face value of Rs 20 lakh from Bangladesh.
Mr. P. Vishnu Vardhan Reddy, counsel for the NIA, said the trial court failed to consider that this case involved international ramifications and custodial interrogation was required to unearth the racket.
The bench told the agency that as per Supreme Court directions, an investigation agency can seek police custody of an accused within first 15 days of remand period and how the NIA was moving the court for the same 45 days after their arrest.
To this, the counsel replied that the case was transferred to NIA from DRI and the apex court has categorically stated that when the investigation agency is changed and a new FIR is registered, the remand of the accused shall be considered from the date of the newly registered case.
The bench has adjourned the case till next week.
