The quantum of punishment will be pronounced by the special NIA court on Monday, a spokesperson of the federal agency said.
Tahawwur Hussain Rana, a Canadian national accused of involvement in the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks, has been extradited to India from the United States. Rana's interrogation is expected to shed light on the role of Pakistani state actors in the attacks, which claimed 166 lives. Indian authorities are particularly interested in his travels across India in the days leading up to the attacks, including visits to Hapur, Agra, Delhi, Kochi, Ahmedabad, and Mumbai. Rana's extradition follows a lengthy legal battle, with the US Supreme Court ultimately denying his application to challenge it. Rana is known to be associated with Pakistani-American terrorist David Coleman Headley, one of the main conspirators of the 26/11 attacks. The investigation into the Mumbai attacks has implicated senior members of terror outfits Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) and Harkat-ul Jihadi Islami (HuJI), as well as officials from Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI).
The court held that though the gelatin sticks planted near Antilia, the Ambani residence, were not connected to a detonator, it was sufficient to create terror in the minds of people.
The National Investigation Agency court also noted that the warrant was not served on Thakur and directed her to appear before it on March 27 for recording statement.
A special court in Mumbai on Thursday rejected dismissed police officer Sachin Waze's plea for `default' bail in the case of the SUV with explosives found near industrialist Mukesh Ambani's residence, and gave the NIA one more month to file a charge sheet.
The Bombay High Court has granted bail to researcher Rona Wilson and activist Sudhir Dhawale, arrested in the Elgar Parishad-Maoist links case. The court noted that they had been in jail since 2018 and the trial was yet to start. The court said the two had spent more than six years in jail as under-trial prisoners. The NIA, the prosecution agency, did not seek a stay to the HC order. Eight other activists have been granted bail in the case, which pertains to provocative speeches allegedly delivered at the Elgar Parishad conclave held in Pune on December 31, 2017.
The current situation in Kerala politics is perhaps best described as a case of the state's traditional two front politics now seeing a third front (the BJP) muscling in with the potential outcome being either a messy three front affair or a renewed endorsement of the two front pattern but with one of the old fronts compromised or quashed, observes Shyam G Menon.
The National Investigation Agency (NIA) has claimed that the documents seized during the nation-wide raids conducted at offices of Popular Front of India (PFI) and its leaders contain highly incriminating materials targeting prominent leaders of a particular community.
A special National Investigation Agency (NIA) court in Mumbai on Wednesday issued a bailable warrant against an officer of the Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) for not appearing before it in connection with the 2008 Malegaon blast case.
The Congress party has claimed credit for the extradition of Tahawwur Rana, an accused in the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks, from the US, saying the Modi government did not initiate the process and merely benefited from the "mature, consistent and strategic diplomacy" begun under the UPA. Former Home Minister P Chidambaram said the government did not secure any breakthrough to make the extradition possible, nor is it the result of any grandstanding. He added that it was a testament to what the Indian state can achieve when diplomacy, law enforcement and international cooperation are pursued sincerely and without any kind of chest-thumping. Chidambaram detailed the UPA government's efforts in securing Rana's extradition, citing the registration of a case against him in 2009, diplomatic pressure on Canada and the US, and continued efforts despite legal setbacks. He highlighted the role of the UPA in securing Rana's conviction for other terrorism-related offences and the cooperation between the US and Indian agencies in gathering evidence and securing his extradition. The Congress leader further stated that it was the UPA's groundwork that paved the way for Rana's extradition, even after the change in government in 2014.
Thakur, seated in the witness box, got visibly emotional at one point and the proceedings were halted for ten minutes.
Researcher Rona Wilson and activist Sudhir Dhawale, accused in the Elgar Parishad-Maoist links case, were released on bail from a Navi Mumbai prison on Friday, more than six years after they were arrested. The duo walked out of the Taloja jail after completing bail formalities before the special NIA court, over a fortnight after they were granted bail by the Bombay High Court. The HC granted bail to Wilson and Dhawale on January 8, noting they had been in jail since 2018 and the trial in the case, in which anti-terror act UAPA has been invoked, was yet to start. Apart from Dhawale and Wilson, 14 other activists and academicians were arrested in the case. Eight of them have been granted bail till now, with one, Mahesh Raut, still in jail as the appeal filed by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) against his bail is pending before the Supreme Court. Jesuit priest and activist Stan Swamy, one of the accused, died in 2021 while lodged in judicial custody. The case pertains to provocative speeches allegedly delivered at the Elgar Parishad conclave held in Pune on December 31, 2017, triggering violence at Koregaon-Bhima, a village outside Pune city, the next day. The Pune police had claimed the conclave was backed by Maoists. The NIA later took over the probe.
The Delhi High Court has reserved its order on a plea by jailed MP Rashid Engineer, facing trial in a terror funding case, seeking custody parole to attend the ongoing Parliament session. Engineer, a Baramulla MP, was opposed by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) who argued that he has no vested right to attend Parliament and there were security concerns. The court said though there might not be a vested right to attend the session, it could exercise its discretion. The NIA also argued that Rashid misused the telephone facility in Tihar jail and that allowing him to attend the session would be a security risk.
A team of NIA officials earlier this morning arrested two persons in connection with the case and were on their way back to Kolkata, when the vehicle came under attack, they said.
The National Investigation Agency on Wednesday opposed in a Delhi court the pleas filed by two Italian marines, accused of killing two Indian fishermen off Kerala coast in 2012, seeking exemption from personal appearance on the ground that chargesheet has not been filed in the case.
"We see no reason to interfere with the high court order," said a bench of Justices U U lalit, S Ravindra Bhat and Bela M Trivedi, refusing to consider the submissions raised by the NIA which had moved the apex court against the December 1 order.
The Delhi High Court granted two-day custody parole to jailed J&K MP Abdul Rashid Sheikh, allowing him to attend the ongoing Parliament session. The court imposed certain restrictions on Rashid, including a ban on using a cellphone or addressing the media, and ordered that he be escorted by armed police personnel to and from the Lok Sabha. The decision came after a legal battle between the National Investigation Agency (NIA), which argued against the parole, and Rashid's lawyers, who highlighted the importance of his representation in Parliament during the budget session. Rashid's case is linked to funding separatist activities in Jammu and Kashmir and connections to designated terrorist Hafeez Saeed.
The high court also instructed both the Mamata government and the Centre to submit detailed reports on the situation. The matter is scheduled for further hearing on April 17.
Naik is said to have acquired citizenship of Saudi Arabia but this has not been confirmed yet.
Both Lawrence and Anmol Bishnoi have been named as wanted accused in the April 14 firing incident outside the Bollywood actor Salman Khan's Galaxy Apartment in Mumbai's Bandra area.
The National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Monday arrested a top Maoist leader as it carried out raids at 62 locations across Andhra Pradesh and Telangana in the Communist Party of India-Maoist conspiracy case, an official said.
This is Navlakha's second round of appeal in the high court seeking regular bail.
The National Investigation Agency has arrested two close aides of gangster Chhota Shakeel for allegedly handling the illegal activities and financial transactions of the crime syndicate controlled by fugitive underworld don Dawood Ibrahim, and for indulging in terror financing in the western suburbs of Mumbai, an official said on Friday.
The situation in these violence-hit places remained tense on Saturday morning, but no untoward incident was reported, officials said.
A bench of Justices V Ramasubramanian and Pankaj Mithal, which extended the protection from arrest to Gogoi till March 3, said it would hear the matter on Friday.
The accused were brought here from Amravati city in eastern Maharashtra earlier in the day.
A special National Investigation Agency (NIA) court in Mumbai on Monday issued a bailable warrant against Bharatiya Janata Party MP Pragya Singh Thakur, an accused in the 2008 Malegaon blast case, for failing to appear before it despite repeated warnings.
The case which was registered in 2015, pertains to a criminal conspiracy hatched by ISIS to establish its base in India by recruiting Muslim youth for ISIS through different social media platforms, the NIA stated.
The release of activists Vernon Gonsalves and Arun Ferreira, accused in the Elgar Parishad-Maoist links case, could get delayed as a special NIA court in Mumbai on Monday rejected their pleas for temporary cash bail.
The 4000-page chargesheet, which was filed in the court of special NIA judge AK Lahoti, has 16 protected witnesses.
In the case of the killing of the IAF personnel in a terror attack in Srinagar in 1990, the court had summoned two witnesses for identification, but they could not appear citing medical reasons, Bhat said, adding that both of them had to come from outside.
The 70-year-old social activist had moved HC challenging the September 5, 2022 order under the National Investigation Agency Act refusing him bail on merits.
The Bombay high court on Friday granted two weeks' time to the National Investigation Agency to file its reply on the petitions of activists Sudha Bharadwaj and Gautam Navlakha, both accused in the Elgar Parishad-Maoist links case, seeking clone copies of all the electronic devices seized from them by the central agency.
The raids were conducted a day after a special court in Mohali declared Dala a proclaimed offender in a case of conspiracy to kill a priest in Punjab, a spokesperson of the federal agency said.
Tightening its noose around Canada-based 'designated individual terrorist' Gurpatwant Singh Pannu, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) confiscated a house and land of the self-styled general counsel of the outlawed Sikhs for Justice (SFJ) outfit in Punjab's Amritsar and the Union Territory of Chandigarh on Saturday, an official said.
Navlakha's lawyers, advocates Yug Chaudhry, Wahab Khan and Chandni Chawla, were likely to move the Supreme Court after Wednesday's ruling of the special NIA court, sources said.
Hiran's body was found in a creek in Thane district on March 5.
The Supreme Court of India has expressed concern over the protracted trials in heinous offences related to Maoist activities, stating that indefinite incarceration violates the right to liberty under Article 21 of the Constitution. Two separate benches of the court granted relief to two accused, citing the delayed trials. One bench expedited the trial of a man accused of transporting ammunition for a banned organization, while the other granted bail to a man accused of transporting materials for Naxal activities. The court emphasized the importance of speedy trials and suggested the establishment of special courts to handle Maoist-related cases, aiming to expedite proceedings. The court also criticized the practice of examining an excessive number of witnesses, which can lead to indefinite delays in the conclusion of trials.
Pronouncing the sentence, Judge V S Tripathi observed that the case fell in the rarest of rare category and as such the convicts were entitled to the severest punishment.
The recovered some "incriminating" documents and electronic evidence such as laptop, I-pad and mobile phones from Waze's office there, the official said.