Mehdi Masroor Biswas alias @shammiwitness sent to judicial custody

Mehdi Masroor Biswas alias @shammiwitness has been sent to judicial custody. The Bengaluru police did not seek extension of his police custody and are consulting with legal experts on the filing of a chargesheet.

The transfer of Hemanth Nimbalkar who was leading the investigations in the Mehdi Masroor alias @shammiwitness case has raised many eye brows, but sources within the police department and Karnataka Home Ministry say that it was a routine procedure.

Nimbalkar who was the Joint Commissioner of Police (Crime) is now posted as the as the Deputy Inspector-General of Police, Karnataka State Fire and Emergency Services. He will be replaced by M Chandra Sekhar, DIG, Karnataka Fire and Emergency Services, Bengaluru.

Investigations complete

A senior officer informed Oneindia that the investigations into the case are complete. They are unlikely to seek any extension of Mehdi's custody which would mean that he will be remanded in judicial custody.

During the investigations we found that he was tweeting material found on the internet. Moreover he did not know Arabic and was using a translating tool to post ISIS sympathetic messages in Arabic, investigations have also found.

Transfer just coincidental

While it has come as a surprise to many that he was transferred all of a sudden, the Government says that there are several other officers who have been transferred. There are 22 IPS and 16 IAS officers who were transferred and hence it is not right to take this as a one off case, the home ministry official informed.

Chargesheet after consultation

Today the police custody of Mehdi Masroor comes to an end. The police are unlikely to seek any extension of custody. They say that the probe is nearing its end and if anything more comes up they could always go before the court and seek police custody again.

With regard to the Chargesheet the police say that they are in consultation with legal experts. Once the consultation process is completed we will file a chargesheet, the officer said.

The police will have to file a chargesheet within 90 days from the date of arrest failing which the accused is automatically entitled for bail.