Alleged Hizbul militant Liaqat Shah remanded to 5-day NIA custody

New Delhi: Suspected Hizbul militant Liaqat Shah was today remanded to five days in NIA custody by a court in New Delhi in connection with a case registered against him by the Delhi Police for allegedly conspiring to carry out terror attacks in the national capital. During an in-chamber hearing, Shah was produced before District Judge IS Mehta and the court allowed NIA’s plea and remanded him to its custody till 1 May, court sources said. The National Investigation Agency (NIA) had yesterday moved the court seeking five-day custody of Shah saying that they need to take him to Sunauli border, one of India-Nepal crossing points near Gorakhpur, from where he was allegedly arrested by the special cell of Delhi Police on 20 March, sources said. During the hearing, Tihar Jail authorities submitted Shah’s medical report before the court saying that he is undergoing treatment in the jail and his vital parameters are normal. Shah had alleged that he had been beaten up and tortured by the officials of special cell of Delhi Police during his custody following his arrest. [caption id=“attachment_731451” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Liaqat Shah in this file photo. Screengrab from IBN-Live[/caption] Earlier, the special NIA court had sent Shah to judicial custody after a magisterial court here had refused to hear the case on the ground that his case has been transferred to NIA. The Delhi Police had arrested 45-year-old Shah on 20 March, alleging that he was planning to carry out terror attacks in the national capital. The Home Ministry had on 28 March issued a notification facilitating NIA to take over the case related to Shah after his arrest had generated conflicting versions from Delhi and Jammu and Kashmir police. On 2 April, NIA was allowed by the court to interrogate Shah in Tihar Jail till 30 April. While Delhi Police claimed that with Shah’s arrest they had foiled a ‘fidayeen’ (suicide) attack in the national capital ahead of Holi, its J-K counterpart insisted he was one of those who had returned to India to surrender under the state’s rehabilitation policy. The police had earlier said Shah, a resident of Jammu and Kashmir, was apprehended from Indo-Nepal border area near Gorakhpur in Uttar Pradesh and had told his interrogators that he is a trained militant of banned terror group Hizbul Mujahideen and was settled in Muzaffarabad in Pakistan Occupied Kashmir (PoK). Police had said in January 2013, Shah and his associate Manzoor, a resident of J&K, were directed by top ranks of Hizbul to carry out terror attacks in Delhi. It had said that based on inputs given by Shah, a huge consignment of arms, hand grenades and explosive material were recovered from a guest house in Jama Masjid area in Deli. The police said that his associates, including Manzoor, are absconding. Delhi Police said a case was registered under sections 120 B(criminal conspiracy), 121 (waging war against government of India), 121A (conspiracy to commit offences against the State) and 123 (concealing with intent to facilitate design to wage war) of IPC against them. According to Delhi Police, Shah had planned attacks to avenge the hanging of Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru. J-K Police, however, had supported the claims of Shah’s family that he was a former militant who had surrendered before SSB on the Nepal border and was in a group returning from PoK under the rehabilitation policy. PTI