News Analysis India

Tag: NIA

  • Elgar Parishad case: Pune court’s move causes no prejudice to accused, NIA tells Bombay HC

    By PTI
    MUMBAI: The National Investigation Agency (NIA) told the Bombay High Court on Monday that in taking cognizance of the charge sheet against lawyer Sudha Bharadwaj and some others in the Elgar Parishad case in 2018, the sessions court in Pune did not cause any prejudice to the rights of the accused.

    Additional Solicitor General Anil Singh, who appeared for the NIA, told HC the NIA took over the case only in January, 2020, and, hence, there was nothing wrong in a sessions court and not a special court taking cognizance of the charge sheet filed by Pune police and remanding Bharadwaj and others to custody.

    Singh made the submissions before a bench of Justices SS Shinde and NJ Jamadar, which is hearing a plea filed by Bharadwaj seeking default bail.

    Bharadwaj, through senior advocate Yug Chaudhry, said in her plea that KD Vadane, the judge who remanded her to custody following her physical arrest in 2018 and who had taken cognizance of the charge sheet filed by Pune police in the case, had pretended to be a designated special judge.

    Chaudhry had earlier told HC that as per Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC), offences under UAPA were scheduled offences, and while the state police was permitted to continue probing the case so long as the NIA does not take over, cognizance of such a case can be taken only by a special court.

    On Monday, however, ASG Singh said, “Taking cognizance is irrespective of the default bail application. Even if UAPA is applicable, there is a difference in trial and pre-trial stage of a case.

    Till the case stands transferred to the special court, the power remains with the sessions court (to preside over it). In all this, there is no pleading that prejudice is caused to them. On these grounds, the petition need not be entertained.”

    During previous hearings, the NIA and the Maharashtra government have opposed Bharadwaj’s bail plea and urged HC to not grant her any relief.

    The HC ill continue hearing the plea on August 4.

  • Terrorist arrested as NIA raids 15 locations in Jammu and Kashmir

    By PTI
    JAMMU: The National Investigation Agency (NIA) Saturday arrested a terrorist as it carried out raids at 15 locations across Jammu and Kashmir in connection with two terror-related cases, officials said.

    The raids were carried out in connection with the busting of a Lashker-e-Mustafa (LEM) module in March and the recovery of an Improvised Explosive Device (IED) dropped here by a drone from Pakistan, an NIA spokesperson said.

    During the raid, the NIA also recovered digital devices including mobile phones, pen drives, shells of used bullets, plastic face masks used during stone-pelting and hand written jihadi material, the spokesperson said.

  • No link between Elgar Parishad and Koregoan Bhima violence: Two accused to Bombay HC

    By PTI
    MUMBAI: Activists Rona Wilson and Shoma Sen, arrested in connection with the Elgar Parishad-Maoist links case, told the Bombay High Court on Monday that there was no connection between the Elgar Parishad event held on December 31, 3017 and the Koregaon Bhima violence that took place a day after.

    Their counsels, senior advocates Indira Jaising and Anand Grover, further told HC that the FIR against the activists had been registered in the aftermath of the Koregaon Bhima incident, which pertained to rioting and violence, and not to any terrorist activity.

    There was no legal ground for the activists to have been charged under the stringent Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA), the counsels told a bench of Justices SS Shinde and NJ Jamadar.

    Advocate Jaising also raised questions on the authenticity and legal admissibility of the electronic evidence the National Investigating Agency (NIA) claimed to have recovered from Wilson’s computer, and from the electronic devices of the other accused in the case.

    She said the HC must direct an investigation into the alleged tampering of legal evidence. The bench was hearing pleas filed by Wilson and Sen challenging their prosecution under UAPA and seeking that all charges against them in the case be quashed.

    In their pleas filed in HC in April this year, Wilson and Sen said the case against them was based on forged and hearsay evidence that was planted on devices allegedly belonging to co-accused Wilson. The activists cited the report of a US digital forensic firm which claimed an incriminating letter and other material had been planted on the computers of Wilson and several of his co-accused in the case.

    On Monday, the advocates for the accused told HC that the Elgar Parishad event and the one at Koregoan Bhima took place at a distance of 7 kilometres, and two separate FIRs were registered for the two incidents.

    The Maharashtra government had said in the Supreme Court that Hindutva leader Milind Ekbote and some others were responsible for the Koregoan Bhima violence, Jaising said. “My submission is that there is no connection between the Parishad event and the violence which took place. The complaint in this case (Elgar Parishad) was made eight days later. When Milind Ekbote approached Supreme Court for anticipatory bail, the Maharashtra government submitted in an affidavit that he is responsible for the attack and hence his pre-arrest bail was rejected,” Jaising told HC.

    “Then they changed and said that these people (the activists and their co-accused) are responsible. Can these two narratives stand?” she said.

    Jaising further said the petitioners had been in prison as undertrials for three years, with no bail, and with no idea when the trial was likely to begin. “You can prosecute me for the violence, but where does UAPA come in? Where is the allegation of sovereignty and integrity of India? Every riot is not an offence under UAPA. This is a case of selective prosecution,” she said.

    On the issues raised on the credibility of the electronic evidence cited by the NIA, the HC said the same would be considered by the special court at the time of trial.

    Grover and Jaising, however, said irrespective of what the trial court held, the HC must consider what constituted legal electronic evidence and what did not. HC will continue hearing the pleas on August 4. The same HC bench reserved its verdict on the temporary bail plea filed by lawyer Surendra Gadling, another accused in the Elgar-Parishad case.

  • Ex-Mumbai Police Commissioner Param Bir Singh booked in extortion case

    By Express News Service
    MUMBAI: A case of extortion has been registered against former Mumbai Police Commissioner Param Bir Singh at Marine Drive Police Station here, Mumbai Police said.

    The complainant is a builder. A total of 8 people, including six police personnel have been named in the FIR. Two civilians arrested in this matter so far, the police informed.

    According to the FIR, Param Bir Singh and his close associates had allegedly demanded Rs 15 crore from the builder to withdraw cases against him regarding the land matter in Thane.

    Based on the builder’s complaint, the case was registered. Two of the builder’s partners, Sunil Jain and Sanjay Punamia, have been arrested in the case in this case. The complainant had submitted the explosive 4.30 hours phone recording where Param Bir Singh Singh and senior police officers demanded the hefty amount and if their demand is not met, then the threatened various actions by the central probe agencies.

    Earlier, the Enforcement Directorate had summoned the former Mumbai Police Commissioner to record a statement in connection with the Rs 100 crore money laundering case against ex-Maharashtra Home Minister Anil Deshmukh.

    Param Bir Singh, on July 12, sought more time from the ED to appear before it ahead of his summons citing health reasons.

    Param Bir Singh, in his letter to Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray, had alleged that Deshmukh had indulged in “malpractices” and asked suspended Mumbai Police officer Sachin Waze to collect Rs 100 crores every month.

    Waze was arrested in March in connection with the National Investigation Agency’s (NIA) probe into the case of recovery of an explosives-laden SUV near Mukesh Ambani’s house in Mumbai and the subsequent murder of Thane businessman Mansukh Hiran.

    The case against the former Home Minister was registered on May 11.

    (With agency inputs)

  • NIA, NHRC, Modi govt and judicial system executed plot against Stan Swamy: Maoists

    Express News Service
    RANCHI: The Maoists on Tuesday alleged that the National Investigation Agency (NIA) framed Stan Swamy in a fake case and demanded immediate release of all the activists lodged in jail in the Bhima Koregaon case. 

    The CPI (Maoists) also demanded the withdrawal of all the cases filed against them and appealed to the writers, artists, singers, lawyers, and democratic intelligentsia to support them.

    According to a press note released by the spokesperson of the CPI (Maoist) Central Committee, Stan Swamy was framed by NIA in the Bhima Koregoan case. “CPI (Maoist) announces that the death of Stan Swamy was a conspiracy. It has also been opined by the activists, intellectuals, democratic intelligentsia, human rights activists, and chief ministers of various states such as Jharkhand, Tamil Nadu, and Kerala. Undoubtedly, the conspiracy has been executed by the NIA, NHRC, BJP Government at the centre and the judiciary as well,” stated the press note issued by CPI (Maoists). 

    Giving voice to the demand of immediate release of all the social and political activists and withdrawal of all cases related to the Bhima Koregaon case without any conditions would be a true tribute to Stan Swamy, it added.

    CPI (Maoist) also made an appeal to the writers, artists, singers, lawyers, and democratic intelligentsia to come forward for defeating the “anti-people” forces in the country, which is being used for denying the basic rights of the common people.

    Stan Swamy, 84, who worked for the rights of Adivasis and other underprivileged people in Jharkhand for more than three decades, passed away at a Mumbai Hospital on July 5. 

    Swamy had been languishing in jail since October 8, last year after NIA arrested him in the Bhima Koregaon case — the violence which erupted at an event to mark 100 years of the Bhima-Koregaon battle on January 1 in 2018, leaving one dead and several others injured. People close to Swamy, however, termed his death as an “institutional murder” saying that he was arrested on fake charges only to be killed in jail.

  • Elgar Parishad case transferred to NIA as it pertains to national security: Probe agency to Bombay HC

    By PTI
    MUMBAI: The NIA told the Bombay High Court on Tuesday that the Centre suo motu (on its own) decided to transfer the probe into the Elgar Parishad-Maoist links case from Pune police to the central agency as it had implications on national security.

    The National Investigation Agency (NIA) also said its credibility is being questioned, while it is fighting for the prevention of unlawful and terrorist activities in the country, in which “Naxal plague” has caused destruction at many levels.

    It further claimed that while considerable autonomy and functional prerogatives have been accorded to state governments, greater powers and prerogatives over a complex range of all-encompassing subjects are vested with the Union government.

    The central agency submitted its affidavit in the HC in response to a petition filed by human rights lawyer Surendra Gadling and activist Surendra Dhawale, arrested in the case, challenging the January 2020 decision of the Union government to transfer the probe into the case from the Pune police in Maharashtra to the NIA.

    The petition, filed through advocate S B Talekar in 2020, alleged that the case was transferred by the central government after the BJP lost power in Maharashtra and hence, the decision was ‘politically motivated’.

    On Tuesday, Talekar told a division bench of Justices S S Shinde and N J Jamadar that the probe into the case was transferred to the NIA two years after the FIR was registered.

    He submitted to the court that the NIA had filed an affidavit in the case, but the Centre and the Maharashtra government were yet to file their affidavits.

    However, NIA’s counsel Sandesh Patil said he was not aware of the affidavit filed by the probe agency.

    “The earlier advocate appearing for the NIA must have filed it. I will have to check. Give me a week’s time to put our house in order,” Patil said.

    The bench then posted the petition for further hearing on July 19.

    The NIA in its affidavit said considering the gravity of the offence and its “inter-state link and implications on national security”, the Centre suo motu directed the NIA to take up the investigation into the case.

    “The present petition is malafide and vexatious as it is a desperate attempt by the petitioner to thwart the investigation into the case related to the Elgar Parishad,” the affidavit said.

    It further said the petitioners were questioning the credibility of the agency which is fighting towards prevention of unlawful and terrorist activities in the country, in which the ‘Naxal plague’ has caused destruction at many levels.

    The affidavit said the NIA was probing the case against the petitioners and other co-accused in a ‘responsible and impartial manner’ and it had no personal agenda against them.

    After the NIA took over the probe into the case, a Pune court transferred the case to the special NIA court in Mumbai, it added.

    The NIA in its affidavit also said the “continuous preservation and promotion of national security is the first and final sovereign function of a country”.

    It claimed that while considerable autonomy and functional prerogatives have been accorded to state governments, greater powers and prerogatives over a complex range of all-encompassing subjects are vested with the Union government.

    “A contextual construction of the provisions of the Constitution of India would show that the sovereign function of maintenance of national security is squarely vested with the Union (government),” it said.

    The affidavit further said the primary objective to establish the NIA was to better tackle cross-border crimes with inter-state and international originations and ramifications.

    Apart from Gadling and Dhawale, several other activists – Varavara Rao, Gautam Navlakha, Sudha Bharadwaj, Anand Teltumbde, Shoma Sen – have been arrested in the case.

    They are accused of being active members of the CPI (Maoist) and propagating Maoist ideology and inciting violence.

    The activists have been booked under provisions of the stringent Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA), apart from various sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).

    Jesuit priest Father Stan Swamy was also arrested in the case.

    The 84-year-old tribal rights activist died in a Mumbai hospital last week in the middle of his fight for bail on health grounds.

    The Elgar Parishad case is related to inflammatory speeches made at a conclave held in Pune on December 31, 2017, which, the police claimed, triggered violence the next day near the Koregaon-Bhima war memorial located on the outskirts of the western Maharashtra city.

    The police had claimed the conclave was organised by people with alleged Maoist links.

  • ISIS module: Six arrested after NIA raids 7 locations in Kashmir

    Express News Service
    SRINAGAR: The National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Sunday raided seven locations in Kashmir in a case regarding online radicalisation by Islamic State in India and arrested six suspects, including the head of a Darul Uloom (Islamic seminary).

    The NIA team accompanied by police and paramilitary personnel did simultaneous raids in Srinagar and Anantnag in south Kashmir. The case was registered by NIA on June 29 under IPC and UAPA in connection with the conspiracy of the ISIS to radicalise and recruit youth to wage violent jihad against the Indian state, an NIA officer said, adding that an organised campaign was launched on the cyber space which is supplemented by on ground terror financing activities.

    Sources said the NIA raided the Darul Uloom at Nawab Bazar area in downtown Srinagar. “During the search of the Darul Uloom, NIA seized a laptop and some office records. They also arrested the head of the Darul Uloom.” During the raids at Pushroo, Sunsooma, and Achabal in Anantnag district, the NIA sleuths arrested six persons including a garment dealer, a chemist, a laboratory technician, two shopkeepers and the Darul Uloom head. 

    An NIA spokesperson said the multiple raids led to confiscation of incriminating documents and digital devices. The spokesperson added ISIS militants operating from various conflict zones along with those in India, by assuming pseudo-online identities, have created a network wherein ISIS-related propaganda material is disseminated for radicalising and recruiting new members. 

    “In this connection an India-centric online propaganda magazine ‘the Voice of Hind’ is published on monthly basis with an aim to incite and radicalise impressionable youth by projecting a skewed narrative to arouse a feeling of alienation and communal hatred,” the spokesperson said. The NIA raids took place a day after the J&K government sacked 11 government employees, including two sons of Hizbul chief Syed Salahuddin, for their alleged involvement in anti-national activities.  

  • NIA raids in Jammu & Kashmir’s Anantnag district in connection with terror funding case

    By ANI
    ANANTNAG: The National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Sunday raided various locations in Jammu and Kashmir’s Anantnag district in connection with a terror funding case.

    This comes a day after eleven employees of the Jammu and Kashmir government were sacked for terror links. Among those dismissed were two sons of terror outfit Hizbul Mujahideen founder Syed Salahudin.

    On Saturday, a Delhi Court ordered the framing of charges against four alleged Hizb-ul-Mujahideen terrorists observing prima facie material against them for receiving funds from Pakistan to plot terrorist activities in Jammu and Kashmir.

    The Court had ordered framing of charges under various charges dealing with criminal conspiracy, waging war against the country, and under provisions of UAPA.

    Special Judge Parveen Singh, in his order, observed that the terror outfit had formed a frontal organization Jammu Kashmir Affectees Relief Trust (JKART), which purpose was to fund terror activities. The trust and mainly to provide funds for the terrorists and their families.

  • NIA court allows Enforcement Directorate to quiz Sachin Waze in Anil Deshmukh case

    By PTI
    MUMBAI: A special court here on Thursday allowed the Enforcement Directorate to question dismissed Mumbai police officer Sachin Waze in an alleged money-laundering case registered against former Maharashtra home minister Anil Deshmukh.

    Waze was arrested by the National Investigation Agency in March in the case of explosives-laden SUV found near industrialist Mukesh Ambani’s residence in south Mumbai, and the subsequent murder of businessman Mansukh Hiran.

    He is now in judicial custody.

    The ED has been allowed to question Waze for three days at Taloja Jail in Navi Mumbai where he is lodged, a defence lawyer said.

    The ED has so far arrested two aides of Deshmukh — his personal secretary Sanjeev Palande and personal assistant Kundan Shinde — in the money-laundering case against the NCP leader.

    The central agency claimed that the arrested duo confessed that Waze had collected Rs 4.70 crore from orchestra bar owners in Mumbai and handed it to Shinde in two installments.

    While seeking permission from the special NIA court to quiz Waze, the ED said it wanted to confront Palande and Shinde with the former assistant police inspector of the crime branch.

    IPS officer Param Bir Singh, after he was removed from the post of Mumbai police commissioner in the aftermath of Waze’s arrest, had alleged in a letter to chief minister Uddhav Thackeray that Deshmukh, then home minister, had asked Waze to collect over Rs 100 crore per month from bars and restaurants in Mumbai.

    Deshmukh denied the charge.

    The ED case followed after the CBI registered a case against Deshmukh on the orders of the Bombay High Court under the Prevention of Corruption Act.

  • ‘Antilia’ bomb scare: Accused Manish Soni seeks bail, claims judicial custody ‘illegal’

    By PTI
    MUMBAI: Manish Soni, arrested in connection with the recovery of an explosives-laden SUV near industrialist Mukesh Ambani’s residence and the subsequent murder of businessman Mansukh Hiran, has moved a bail plea before a special NIA court here while saying his judicial custody is “illegal”, his lawyer said on Wednesday.

    Soni was arrested on June 17 along with Satish Mothkuri and former “encounter specialist” Pradeep Sharma in connection with the case.

    The National Investigation Agency (NIA) told the special court on Monday that Soni was “inadvertently” remanded in judicial custody by a magistrate court, where he had gone for recording a confessional statement.

    Soni’s lawyer Rahul Arote said the remand was “illegal” as the accused was sent in jail custody without being produced before the special court. “The application has been filed on the ground that he is illegally remanded by (magistrate) court. Therefore, prayed for bail,” Arote said.

    The NIA had earlier told the court that Soni and Mothkuri allegedly killed Hiran and dumped the body with the help of other accused. The murder was part of a larger conspiracy and committed at the behest of former policemen Sachin Waze and Pradeep Sharma, it had said.

    Besides Waze and Sharma, policemen Riyazuddin Kazi and Sunil Mane had also been arrested in connection with the bomb scare case and later dismissed from police service. The NIA had also arrested former police constable Vinayak Shinde and cricket bookie Naresh Gor in the case.

    All of them are currently in judicial custody. The explosives-laden SUV was found abandoned near Ambani’s residence ‘Antilia’ in south Mumbai on February 25 this year. Businessman Mansukh Hiran, who had claimed that he was in possession of the vehicle, was found dead at a Mumbra creek in Thane district on March 5.