Police custody of 12 suspected IM members extended to Nov 3

Mumbai, Oct 29 (UNI) A local designated court today extended the police custody of 12 of the 20 suspected members of the Indian Mujahideen (IM), accused of being involved in serial blasts in different parts of the country such as Ahmedabad, Surat, Hyderabad, Bangalore and New Delhi, till November 3.

When Surat Police moved an application seeking custody of three of the 20 suspected members of the IM -- Mohammed Afzal Shaikh, Mohammed Sadik and Mohammed Zakir Shaikh -- before the holiday special MCOCA court in connection with the planting of bombs at various places in Gujarat last month, Judge A V Puranik called each and every accused in his chamber and asked them about the confessional statements they had given before the Deputy Commissioner of Police, Surat.

He deferred the hearing on the Surat Police's application till November 3, as from that day onwards the normal court proceedings will begin.

Mumbai Crime Branch sleuths had arrested Mohammed Sadik Shaikh, Mohammed Afzal Shaikh, Mohammed Arif Shaikh, Mohammed Zakir Shaikh and Mohammed Ansar Shaikh from different areas of the city a few days ago for their alleged involvement in the Ahmedabad serial blasts and the planting of bombs in Surat.

Soon after their arrests, Surat DCP (Zone III) V Chandrashekhar had come to Mumbai and interrogated Mohammed Afzal Shaikh, Mohammed Sadik and Mohammed Zakir Shaikh and found their involvement in the planting of bombs there.

According to one of the defence advocates, Subhash Kanse, the accused were today produced before the holiday Judge due to ongoing Diwali vacation, who granted them short remand upto November 3 and also deferred the hearing.

He said according to the police remand application moved today, five more accused had recorded their confessional statments before the Deputy Commissioner of Police.

He said of the 20 accused, 12 had so far given their confessional statments. On the previous occasion, seven accused had given their statments, he added.

According to the prosecution, during the investigation it was discovered that the terror e-mail regarding the Delhi serial blasts was sent from Mumbai. Three of the accused had allegedly sent terror e-mails by accessing unsecured wi-fi networks from the city's different parts Navi Mumbai, Chembur and Khalsa College in North Central Mumbai.

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