Delhi HC blast: Accused sent to judicial custody till Nov 8

A Delhi court on Monday sent Aamir Abbas Dev and Wasim Akram Malik, accused in the September 7 Delhi high court blast, to judicial remand for 14 days after the National Investigation Agency submitted that it does not require their custody.

Special NIA Judge H S Sharma sent Dev and Malik to Tihar Jail till November 8 after the probe agency said his custodial interrogation was over.

Malik was produced before the court by the NIA after the expiry of his three-day custody while Dev was already in judicial custody. Malik remained in NIA custody for a total of 17 days.

The investigators have termed Malik, a Jammu and Kashmir native studying Unani medicine in Bangladesh, as a 'key link' in the conspiracy behind the blast outside gate number 5 of the high court on September 7 which left 15 people dead and over 70 injured.

Earlier, the NIA had sought Malik's custody on the ground that certain developments were taking place and they were likely to arrest more people linked to the case. The NIA had also seized three mobile phones from Jammu and Kishtwar residences of Malik recently.

A metropolitan magistrate had earlier recorded Dev's testimony under section 164 of the CrPC, in an in-camera proceeding.

The statements recorded by a magistrate under the CrPC bind the accused and any U-turn during the trial would make him liable for prosecution for the offence of perjury.       

Dev, a native of Jammu and Kashmir, is accused of sending terror e-mails to media groups after the blast outside the gate of the high court.