13 August,2023 04:42 AM IST | Mumbai | Apoorva Agashe
Shamil Nachan
A special court has granted the National Investigation Agency (NIA) seven days custody of accused Shamil Nachan, who is suspected to have links with ISIS. The NIA claimed that Nachin's active role in "advancing the objectives of a designated foreign extremist organisation forms the basis of their arrest".
According to the NIA, Nachin, a resident of Padgha, Thane, played a crucial role in the production, training, and testing of improvised explosive devices (IEDs) intended for use in terrorist acts. "He was closely collaborating with five other individuals already apprehended, namely Zulfikar Ali Barodawala, Mohammed Imran Khan, Mohammed Yunus Saki, Simab Nasiruddin Kazi, and Abdul Kadir Pathan, along with other unidentified suspects," the NIA said in a statement.
The NIA public prosecutor told the court that one of the accused arrested in the Pune ISIS module case had confessed that he was in touch with a "healthy looking man". "We suspect the man to be Shamil Nachan." The NIA further revealed that Nachan's phone number had been traced to Kondhwa district located in Pune, from where two people with alleged links to the ISIS had been arrested. The NIA said that they had proof that the phone was used by Nachan.
According to the NIA public prosecutor, Nachan had been a member of an active international terrorist organisation since April 2022. The prosecutor also alleged that Nachan was not cooperating with the investigators and lying.
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Defence lawyer Tahira Querishi argued that Nachan, and his father Saquib Nachan, had been served a notice by the NIA for investigation. "They were supposed to be witnesses in this case, and both were present for investigation. But Shamil was arrested late at night. Apart from my client being the son of Sakib, the NIA has not been able to establish any links," Querishi said.
Saquib Nachan, who previously served as secretary of the Islamic Movement of India (SIMI), was convicted in the 2002-2003 Mumbai Central, Vile Parle and Mulund bomb blasts case. He was released from prison in 2017.
