A Delhi court has granted bail to four Kargil-based students in connection with a blast at the Israeli Embassy here on January 29, noting that “nothing incriminating” has been put forth by the Delhi Police Special Cell to suggest that they have links with any terrorist organisation and are a threat to society.
Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Pankaj Sharma also noted that the “antecedents of the accused persons [Ajaz Hussain, Muzammil Hussain, Zulfiqar Ali, Nazir Hussain] are blemish-free and they are students”.
“Nothing in the report suggested that any of the accused persons were posting any objectionable material against India. The IO [investigating officer] has recovered all the electronic gadgets, including mobiles, laptops and pen-drives having voluminous data, which are being analysed,” the court said.
As per the IO’s report, Nazir is a supporter of IRGC (Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps). However, the court reminded that it was “not a terrorist organisation”.
On January 29, an attack was carried out at the Israeli Embassy in Delhi with an IED (improvised explosive device).
The bail plea of the four students was opposed by the Public Prosecutor, who argued that the case pertained to a conspiracy hatched by Islamic outfits and their operators to carry out terrorist attacks in Delhi and other parts of India targeting Western as well as Israeli establishments in India.
During investigation, the four students were arrested from Kargil and their electronic gadgets sent to CERT-in (Indian Computer Emergency Response Team) for extraction of data and other details relating to Twitter accounts, Call Records Details, Internet providers, airlines and banks.
The Public Prosecutor said Nazir Hussain had posted highly objectionable material on his Twitter account against Israel, the U.S. and other Western countries. His phone was analysed and it was found that there was no call or SMS on the date of the blast at the embassy.
“Analysis of the CRDs of the mobile numbers of Zulfikar Ali Wazir, Aiaz Hussain and Muzamil Hussain reveal that they were present at Delhi at the relevant time and there was no call or SMS on their mobile phones at the relevant time,” the Public Prosecutor said.
On the other hand, counsel representing the students argued that Ajaz Hussain, Muzammil Hussain and Zulfiqar Ali were graduates and in Delhi for competitive exams, whereas Nazir Hussain had been staying in his hometown Kargil for the last one-and-a-half years.
The counsel submitted that the parents of the accused persons were retired teachers and had good reputation in society and there was no scope of fleeing from justice.
He said that their phones, laptops and notebooks had been seized by the police from their houses and, while doing so, they did not show any resistance and had been cooperating all along.
The counsel said that no material had been brought on record by the prosecution to establish the fact of conspiracy by the accused or any link between the accused and the incident in question.
“Only on the basis of suspicion, the accused persons were arrested and no evidence had surfaced against them during investigation,” the counsel argued.
Taking note of the submission, the court said, “considering the age, antecedents and the fact that all the accused persons are students having roots in society and in the backdrop of the fact that the IO has the custody of the relevant evidence, all accused persons are ordered to be released on bail”.
As a condition for bail, the court directed all four to report to the IO on the second and fourth Saturdays of every month till the filing of the charge-sheet or six months, whichever is later. All four students also have to drop a pin on Google Maps to share their location with the IO at any given time.
