’Fugitive’ doctor, accused in terror module case, held

’Fugitive’ doctor, accused in terror module case, held

mangaloretoday.com

Bangalore: Nov. 30, 2013 (DHNS): A medical doctor, who is among the 10 ’’absconding’’ accused in the Bangalore terror module case of 2012, was arrested from a premises on Kanakapura Road here on Thursday, the National Investigative Agency (NIA) has claimed. An NIA court remanded him in police custody on Friday.

 A medical doctor, who is among the 10 “absconding” accused in the Bangalore terror module case of 2012, was arrested from a premises on Kanakapura Road here on Thursday, the National Investigative Agency (NIA) has claimed. An NIA court remanded him in police custody on Friday.

 

Dr Imran Ahmed alias Immu Bhai, sources claimed, was arrested after he returned to the City from West Asia, using a “forged” passport. NIA officers, however, have refused to divulge further details.

Dr Ahmed was named accused No 22 in the charge sheet filed before a special NIA court on February 20 of this year. The charge sheet calls him an “absconder” and alleges he is a “Lashkar-e-Toiba operative”.

Para 17.13 in the charge column of the charge sheet mentions the role of the accused in the alleged conspiracy. It states that during investigation, it was revealed that Mohammed Akram alias Khalid (accused No 7) went to Saudi Arabia in the “guise” of seeking employment as a driver, with the help of Mohammed Abdul Majeed, the younger brother of alleged terrorist Shahid Bilal.

The charge sheet further states that Abdul Majeed introduced Akram to a host of alleged terror operatives based in that country and goes on to list them. It mentions the names of Siddique bin Osman, Abu Hamza, Furkhan Bhai, Motu Doctor, Dr Usman Ghani Khan, Ustad alias Zakir and Dr Ahmed.

During Akram’s stay in Saudi Arabia, he had two “conspiracy meetings” with all the accused named above — in Riyadh and in Dammam “to carry out targeted killings of Hindutva leaders, journalists, politicians and police officers.”

The charge sheet is, however, silent on the exact role of Dr Ahmed. It also said that NIA sleuths had no information about his age, address, family background, passport and other details. They only know “he is a native of Karnataka and a doctor”. The charge sheet also states that further investigation was inevitable against all the “absconding” accused, including Dr Ahmed.

The case has been dogged by controversies. The Central Crime Branch (CCB) of Bangalore police had claimed to have arrested 11 youths from Bangalore and Hubli combined on August 29, 2012. Four more youths were also arrested later.

The NIA took over the case in the last week of November. It later discharged two men, citing “lack of prosecutable evidence”. Another man was dropped from the charge sheet and released on bail. The released youth later stressed they were arrested “only because they were Muslims and their signatures taken on blank papers to extract a confession.”

Dr Usman Ghani Khan, a native of Dharwad, another “absconder”, was arrested by the local police in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, on the CCB’s reques. But he was released later as the City police could not provide enough evidence against him.

Irshad Ahmed Desai of the Association of Protection of Civil Rights (APCR), which has been representing the defence, said the case was “shoddily investigated and many innocents framed”. “The charge sheet mentions the man now arrested (Dr Ahmed) only fleetingly and the agencies themselves don’t have any information about him,” he said.

The APCR was trying its best to trace Dr Ahmed’s family. No details, however, were available right now; even his address and where he was arrested are not known yet, he added.