A Hyderabad court on Wednesday asked the Central Bureau of Investigation to specify reasons for seeking the custody of Swami Asimanand, an accused in 2007 Mecca Masjid blast case, after the defence opposed its plea on the ground that the agency had already questioned him and did not specify any reason for his further interrogation.
The prosecution, arguing for 15-day police custody of Asimanand, said the blast case was a sensitive issue and the role of the accused and the reasons seeking his custody cannot be made public and disclosed in the open court.
Opposing the CBI's application to further interrogate Asimanand, his advocate J B Chinna Kesava Rao told the XIV Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate court that his client had already been interrogated for two days after being arrested by CBI on November 19.
He contended the probe agency has not specified what sort of investigation it wants to carry out further.
The CBI has also recovered all the material from Asimanand's possession. What more documents does it want to get, the defence counsel asked.
"The CBI has been telling that Asimanand was arrested for his role in Mecca Masjid blast case but there are no specific allegations," Rao asserted, adding, "My client is suffering from neurological problems".
Magistrate K Sudhaker, who heard the case, however asked the CBI to furnish before it the reasons for seeking Asimanand's police custody.
Sudhaker then reserved for November 26 orders on the matter after CBI counsel P Vikram informed the court that they would file a case diary (CD) file before the court containing details on the status of CBI's investigation of the case so far and also on the role and reason seeking police custody of Asimanand. Asimanand alias Naba Kumar Sarkar was arrested by CBI on November 19 from Haridwar in connection with blast at the historic Mecca Masjid in Hyderabad on May 18, 2007, which left nine persons dead.
The probe agency, in its submission before the court, had last week claimed that the complicity of Swami Asimanand in the criminal conspiracy in the blast case at Mecca Masjid came to light recently and added his name as an accused in the case diary.
