NIA questions Nazeer

The National Investigation Agency (NIA) has collected several valuable leads from Thadiyantavide Nazeer, said to be the South India commander of LeT, in the case related to the 2006 twin blasts in Kozhikode city. The information was collected from Nazeer, first accused in the case, during his interrogation by the NIA. Nazeer and his relative and aide Shafaz were interrogated in the Bangalore prison, where they were in judicial custody, by an NIA team led by its Superintendent Mukesh Singh.

NIA sources said that they had got vital information regarding four accused men in the case who were presently hiding in the Gulf during the interrogation. They hoped that these persons could be arrested soon. However, they refused to divulge details of the information collected from Nazeer as it could affect the investigation. There were a total of eight accused in the case related to the twin blasts that occurred in Kozhikode on March 3, 2006.

The agency on Monday submitted the statement taken from Nazeer at the Bangalore prison along with the case diary to the Special CBI Court -2 in Kochi which was hearing the terror cases being probed by the NIA in Kerala. The agency had also handed over to the Bangalore police the production warrant for Nazeer. As per the warrant, Nazeer was to be produced in the Special CBI Court on Wednesday.

Meanwhile, the Special CBI Court rejected the bail application filed by Abdul Halim, third accused in the blasts case who was arrested in July last. The court rejected the bail petition after detailed examinations of the case documents as he had been in custody continuously for 180 days. It also rejected his plea for transferring from the CentRAL Prison, Viyyur, Thrissur to the Central Prison in Kannur.

The NIA had already tracked down two of the absconding accused in the case, Muhammad Azhar and Yusuf, and efforts were on to arrest them. The agency had already identified the hideout of the two accused in the Gulf. Shammi Feroze, another accused hiding in the Gulf, was expected to surrender any time now as he had been served an ultimatum by the agency. Shammi Feroze had responded to the NIA order but had filed an application pleading that he had no role in the blast.

The NIA was presently watching the hideout of Azhar and Yusuf in the Gulf and was monitoring their telephones. The agency’s sleuths had reportedly talked to Yusuf through an intermediary and like Shammi Feroze, he also had denied any involvement in the explosions. Yusuf had informed the agency that he and some others had been trapped in the case by Thadiyantavide Nazeer.

The FIR filed by the NIA in the Special CBI Court was based on the information collected from the interrogation of Halim and the details handed over by the Crime Branch, which had probed the case earlier.