NIA forced me to confess says Lashkar operative

An operative of the Lashkar-e-Tayiba who turned approver in a case has accused the National Investigation Agency of forcing him to confess. He had turned approver in a case of receiving funds from Pakistan and UAE-based LeT operatives to further terror activities in India.

In an application moved before District Judge Poonam A Bamba, accused Mahfooz Alam, currently in judicial custody, has sought to retract his confessional statement given earlier, which will come up before the court during hearing on July 3.

"The applicant/accused has given the confessional statement before the Magistrate, which he wants to withdraw as the same was given under pressure and out of fear of the investigating agency.

"It is, therefore, prayed that he may kindly be allowed to retract his confessional statement," advocate M S Khan, who represented Alam, quoted from the application moved before the court.

The court had on May 16 granted conditional pardon to Alam and one Abdul Samad, after both turned approvers.

The agency had on May 25 filed a chargesheet against 10 other suspected terrorists -- five of whom have been arrested, while the rest are absconding -- for their alleged role in receiving funds from Pakistan and the UAE for terror activities.

Those named as accused in the chargesheet included suspected LeT operatives Sheikh Abdul Naeem, Bedar Bakht, Towseef Ahmad Malik, Dinesh Garg and Adish Kumar Jain, who were arrested from different parts of the country, and are currently in judicial custody.

The final report was filed under various sections of Indian Penal Code, the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, Passport Act, Aadhaar Act and the Arms Act. The case was lodged on November 27 last year.