IM members remanded to police custody till Nov 3

Special MCOCA court remanded the 12 suspected Indian Mujahideen operatives, arrested for their alleged involvement in the recent Delhi, Ahmedabad and Surat blasts, to police custody till Nov 3.

The special Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA) court on Wednesday extended the police custody of 12 suspected members of terror outfit Indian Mujahideen (IM) till November 3.

Special MCOCA judge M R Puranik remanded the 12 persons to police custody after the prosecution argued that they need their custody to interrogate them on their involvement in the Surat and Ahmedabad blasts.

The Mumbai crime branch had arrested 20 suspected IM members last month for their alleged involvement in a series of blasts across the country since 2005.

Out of the 20 members, eight were remanded to judicial custody last week by the court.

On Wednesday, the four accused filed an application before the court alleging that they were being physically tortured by the police in custody.

One of the accused Naushad Ali claimed that his hearing has been impaired due to the police torture. The court directed the police to take Naushad to an ENT specialist and submit a report on November 3.

The four have also filed an application seeking retraction of their confession. According to the application, they were forced to make the confession by the police.

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On the last hearing, another accused Mohammad Mansoor Peerbhoy had filed an application stating that he wants to turn an approver in the case.

The court had directed the police to file their reply on the application by November 4.

All the 20 accused had been booked under the stringent provisions of the MCOCA. The Mumbai crime branch had stated that these persons had “formed a gang of organised crime syndicate for committing terrorist activities and had aided and abetted each other in continuing their illegal activities.”

Riyaz Bhatkal, the mastermind and founder member of the IM, and his brother Iqbal Bhatkal are still wanted by the crime branch.

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The 20 arrested are Afzal Mutalib Usmani, Mohammed Sadik Shaikh, Mohammed Arif Shaikh, Mohammed Zakir Shaikh, Ansar Ahmed Shaikh, Asif Bashir Shaikh, Mohammed Mansoor Peerbhoy, Mubin Kadar Shaikh, Mohammed Atique Iqbal, Dastagir Phiroz Mujawar, Mohammed Akbar Chaudhary, Anique Shafique Sayed, Majid Akthar Shaikh, Yasir Anis Syed, Farooq Sharfuddin Tarkash, Fazal-e-Rehman Durani, Ahmed Bawa Abubakar, Mohammed Ali Ahmed, Javed Ali and Syed Naushad.