Police custody of all 7 suspects extended

Suspect from Aurangabad complaints to judge about 'ill-treatment in custody'

The police custody of all seven suspects arrested in connection with the J M Road blasts has been extended till January 8.

Sayyed Arif alias Kashif Sayyed Zafruddin Biyabani (32) of Aurangabad, Munif Iqbal Memon (31) of Kondhwa and Farukh Shawkat Bagwan (31) of Ghorapde peth (all three were arrested on December 26), besides Asad Khan (33) of Aurangabad, Imran Khan Wajid Khan Pathan (32) of Nanded, Irfan Mustafa Landage (30) of Ahmednagar and Firoz Sayyed of Pune (arrested by the Maharashtra ATS on December 20) were produced in the court of Judicial Magistrate First Class (JMFC), S S Bose, on Tuesday.

The ATS sought 14-day police custody of all seven, stating they wanted them for further investigations to arrest absconding accused Iqbal Bhatkal, Riyaz Bhatkal and others. The ATS remand application stated that they had recovered a pistol and four rounds from the suspects. The ATS, through assistant public prosecutor (APP)

Sanjeev Kadam, also stated that they wanted to recover computer hard disks and other materials from them.

Defence lawyers of all seven accused collectively objected to police custody stating the police had already recovered their computer, hard disks and pen drives. They also told the court that the ATS had failed to mention the role of each suspect individually.

One of the suspects, Sayyed Arif, alias Biyabani, complained to the judge about police allegedly torturing him with burning cigarettes. On the basis of his allegations, Arif was sent to Sassoon General Hospital for a check-up, after which he was again produced in court. The medical report from Sassoon, however, stated that the scars of cigarette burns found on his body were old and not recent ones.

After the arrest, ATS had claimed that Sayyed Arif alias Biyabani, 32, is a 'prized catch' as his name had surfaced during the German Bakery blast probe and later during interrogation of Syed Zabiuddin Sayed Zakiuddin Ansari alias Abu Jundal. Biyabani is a real estate agent and a final-year law student, said ATS.

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