'Counter terrorism does not appear to be good guys fighting the bad ones; it is about people being picked up, detained and charged with crimes they did not commit.'
In a first, a special National Investigation Agency court in Mumbai sentenced six accused in a 2009 fake currency case to life imprisonment, terming the possession and circulation of Indian counterfeit notes as an "act of terrorism".
'I am here to point out what is wrong. I bring it to the public's attention. The law has to give justice. I cannot do that.' 'We are activists and used to attacks. The more pressure we are up against, the more active we become. That is part of our life.'
While six of the 14 suspects were picked up on Friday from Karnataka, four are from Hyderabad and two each from Mumbai and Uttar Pradesh.
Charges against eight Muslim youths accused in the 2006 Malegaon bomb blasts case were on Monday dropped by a special court in Mumbai due to lack of evidence against them.
The National Investigation Agency has accused the Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad of planting evidence and coercing witnesses, but its own investigation is incomplete and leaves many questions unanswered.
Qureshi, 46, had been on the run since 20 blasts ripped through Gujarat's main city Ahmedabad on July 26, 2008, killing more than 50 people
Patel rejected the charge as "completely baseless" and urged the Bharatiya Janata Party not to politicise matters pertaining to national security and divide the peace-loving Gujaratis.
'We were expecting death sentences, but now the court has acquitted them, despite Aseemanand himself admitting to his crime in front of a judge.' More importantly, it seems the tag of 'Hindu Terror' coined by the United Progressive Alliance government was wrong all along. Amjedullah Khan, spokesperson for the Majlis Bachao Tehreek, has been tracking the Mecca Masjid blast case from day one and was also involved in securing the release of more than 100 Muslims youths who were falsely accused in different terror cases in the aftermath of the blast. He spoke to Syed Firdaus Ashraf/Rediff.com about the acquittal of Swami Aseemanand and what it means.
Three Hyderabad-based cousins, who allegedly planned to join "jihadi terror groups", were on Saturday picked up from Nagpur international airport while on their way to Srinagar, months after they were put under watch for being influenced by online Islamic State propaganda.
'Every man in the hot seat needs trusted cops to grind their axe with political opponents.' 'And that's what explains Waze's importance; him investigating the fake TRP scandal, his arrest of TV journalist Arnab Goswami, and heading the investigation into the Antilia bomb scare case.'
Indian Mujahideen co-founder Yasin Bhatkal was on Saturday arrested by the National Investigation Agency Hyderabad in connection with the February 2013 Dilsukhnagar blast case after a Delhi court allowed its plea and granted the probe agency his two-day remand.
We continue to be what we were before 26/11-- sitting ducks, says Mahesh Vijapurkar.
In another major crackdown on the Popular Front of India, police along with other investigative agencies conducted raids across several states on Tuesday.
India has not only been decked in tricolour hues in the lead up to the 76th Independence Day celebrations, but also put under a heavy security blanket, right from Delhi, the epicentre of the mega celebrations, to Jammu and Kashmir.
'The blasts destroyed my family. Two of my sons are in jail and one is absconding.'
A local court on Saturday remanded Virendra Tawade, a member of Hindu Janjagruti Samiti and an accused in the murder of rationalist Narendra Dabholkar, to Central Bureau of Investigation custody till June 16.
On Friday, Khadse made a futile bid to meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi, National Security Advisor Ajit Doval as well as senior party leaders in New Delhi.
Syed Firdaus Ashraf explains how two cases separated by ideological motives were curiously similar on one account.
Suspended IPS officers D G Vanzara and PP Pandey were on Thursday granted bail by a special Central Bureau of Investigation court in Ahmedabad in the 2004 case of fake encounter of Ishrat Jahan and 3 others after remaining in jail for 18 months.
'In Maharashtra he didn't buckle under pressure.' 'We expect him to do the same as the CBI Director.'
The probe agency told the court that Andure is one of the two assailants who shot at Dabholkar at Omkareshwar Bridge here on August 20, 2013.
It took six years, but the co-founder of the Indian Mujahideen was finally trapped after he made a rare mistake.
'If there is effective prosecution, only then we will get justice, but first let them (NIA) run the case honestly in court.'
The 61-year-old former top cop from Mumbai changed professions after listening to his 'inner voice'.
As investigations into the Mumbai terror attack are picking up pace, the links between the terrorists and Pakistan are becoming also becoming clearer. Ajmal Kasab, the only terrorist who was nabbed alive during the terror attack, has revealed that Pakistan authorities had deliberately turned a blind eye when he, along with his 10 associates, traveled to Mumbai.
Even as the police force and the Intelligence Bureau verify the Deccan Mujahideen's claims of orchestrating the Mumbai terror attacks, they are not ruling out the involvement of the Indian Mujahideen, an offshoot of the Students Islamic Movement of India.The IB points out that the e-mail sent by the Indian Mujahideen in September had made revealed their animosity towards Mumbai and the Anti Terrorist Squad. The IM, in an email sent out in September, had warned the ATS.
Rohini Salian has claimed that the NIA had told her not to appear in the case and that she was facing pressure to go easy on the accused.
"Prima facie there is no case made out against Sadhvi Pragya," said Justice More while granting bail to Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur, accused of plotting the 2008 Malegaon blast on Tuesday. Sadhvi's lawyer Shyam Dewani speaks to Syed Firdaus Ashraf/Rediff.com on what were the circumstances under which she got bail.
Vaihayasi Pande Daniel reports on all the action that unfolded at the NIA court hearing the 2008 Malegaon blast case.
The Delhi Police's Special Cell on Tuesday busted a Pakistan-organised terror module with the arrest of six men, including two ISI trained terrorists.
IRF spokesperson said Qureshi is a "Guest Relations Officer" with the organisation, but denied any "encouragement" on part of their staff to make anyone join terrorist organisation, ISIS
Having arrested a serving army officer and a retired Major in connection with Malegaon blast, Mumbai police and central security agencies are probing the role of some more members of the armed forces, including another high-ranking official, for funding the incident.
The Ram Pradhan Commission which probed the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks has found that the intelligence alerts provided by Central agencies were treated 'casually' and 'mechanically forwarded' to operational units by the director general of police office, anti terrorist squad and the home department.
'I would not say I am 100 per cent sure. But I would also not rule out the possibility. This is an alternative theory which must be probed into,' says former Maharashtra Inspector General of Police S M Mushrif.
It was a sudden decision of the three deceased police officers -- Anti-Terrorists Squad chief Hemant Karkare, Additional Commissioner of Police Ashok Kamte and Police Inspector Vijay Salaskar to go from the front side of Cama Hospital entrance and finally got killed along with three other colleagues, by terrorists in an ambush, Ram Pradhan Commission report has said by quoting an eyewitness.
President Pratibha Patil has cleared the names of slain former Maharashtra Anti-Terrorist Squad chief Hemant Karkare, sub-inspector Tukaram Gopal Omble and National Security Guard commando Major Sandeep Unnikrishnan, who laid down their lives during the Mumbai terror strikes, for Ashok Chakra. A senior Rashtrapati Bhavan official told rediff.com, "All that I can tell you is that she has cleared the file and it has been sent to home ministry."
With Maharashtra's Anti Terrorist Squad unable to make any headway in Pune blast probe, the Union Home Ministry was contemplating to hand over the case to the National Investigation Agency. Ministry sources said a final decision to this effect would be taken up in consultation with the Maharashtra government.
Hearing a complaint filed by a social activist, a local court in Mumbai has directed the city police to probe into the 'missing' bullet-proof jacket of former Anti Terrorist Squad chief Hemant Karkare, who was shot dead by the terrorists during the 26/11 terror attacks near Cama Hospital.
'The talk in police circles is that Maria was about to crack the money transaction trail in the crime. The Mumbai police's Economic and Offences Wing had begun investigations into the money trail and Mumbai police officers had visited Singapore in this connection.'
