Court grants agency two more months to complete probe into terror case

New Delhi, May 17: A Delhi court has granted two more months to complete the investigation against an alleged member of terrorist outfit Al-Qaeda, arrested in connection for providing logistic and financial assistances to other members of the organisation in India and abroad.

Special Judge Dharmender Rana allowed an application moved by Delhi police, which had sought more time to complete the probe against Sabeel Ahmed.

The accused, a member of banned terrorist outfit Al-Qaeda in the Indian Sub-Continent (AQIS), was arrested on February 22 by the special cell of Delhi Police, for providing assistance to other members to carry out terrorist activities.

The police had moved the application since the investigation related to the accused was still continuing and the period to file charge sheet against him was going to expire on May 22, 2021, i.e. three months from the arrest.

If the charge sheet was not filed within three months from the arrest, or the court had not granted more time to the probe agency to complete the investigation, the accused would have been entitled to get statutory bail in the case.

The judge observed that the prosecution had set out a case for the extension of the statutory time period to conclude the investigation.

As a cumulative effect of the aforesaid discussion, I have no hesitation in observing that the prosecution has set out a case for extension of the statutory time period to conclude investigation and the application at hand deserves to be allowed.

However, the IO (investigating officer) is not divested of his obligation of concluding investigations expeditiously. Therefore, he is permitted to conclude the pending investigation qua accused Sabeel Ahmed till July 22, 2021, the judge said in an order passed on May 13.

In its application seeking extension of the period to complete the probe by August 18, the police said the investigation could not be concluded despite efforts due to present pandemic situation.

The application was opposed by advocates M S Khan and Qausar Khan, appearing for the accused, who said that the probe agency had already got enough time to complete the investigation.

Ahmed is also an accused in suicidal terror attack at Glasgow Airport (United Kingdom) on June 30, 2007.

He was deported from Saudi Arabia on August 20, 2020 and was taken into custody by NIA in another terror case lodged in Bengaluru.

His custody was later taken by the special cell of Delhi Police in the present matter on February 22, this year.