New Delhi: A Delhi court on Friday allowed a plea of Delhi Police seeking voice sample of Indian Mujahideen (IM) co-founder Yasin Bhatkal, who was wanted in over 40 terror cases.
The court also remanded Bhatkal and his aide Asadullah Akhtar to judicial custody till January 17 in a case lodged for the September 19, 2010 Jama Masjid terror attack.
Bhatkal and Akhtar were produced before the court after expiry of their police custody and the special cell of Delhi Police moved an application seeking voice sample of Bhatkal.
The police submitted before Additional Sessions Judge Daya Prakash that both the accused be remanded to judicial custody as they were not required for further custodial interrogation.
Advocate M S Khan, who appeared for the accused, opposed the plea claiming that the police had already taken the voice sample of Bhatkal during custodial interrogation.
Khan alleged that the police was trying to frame Bhatkal as there were no recorded conversations with which the voice of his client was required to be matched.
The court allowed the police`s plea to take the voice sample of Bhatkal and remanded both the accused to judicial custody till January 17.
Bhatkal and Akhtar were in police custody till today in connection with the September 2010 Jama Masjid terror attack days before the Commonwealth games here.
The police had earlier told the court that on September 19, 2010, two bikers had fired upon tourists at the gate of Jama Masjid in Old Delhi area and two Taiwanese, Ku-Ze-Wei and Ko-chiange, had sustained bullet injuries while a bomb was fitted in a car parked in the area.
It had said the pressure cooker bomb planted in the car had not exploded due to some circuit problem.
Earlier, the police had taken custody of both the accused in several terror cases, including the case relating to the firing incident at Jama Masjid`s gate.
The special cell had earlier told the court that during interrogation, Bhatkal had disclosed that he had arranged the logistics for Akhtar, Waqas, who is still absconding, and other IM members who carried out the attack near the prominent mosque here.
Bhatkal and Akhtar were earlier taken to Hyderabad after their arrest on September 21 and September 17 respectively last year by NIA`s Hyderabad unit in connection with the Dilsukhnagar blasts that claimed 16 lives.
The blasts were caused by IEDs planted near Konark and Venkatadiri theatres on February 21 of this year.
They were arrested by the NIA from the Indo-Nepal border on the night of August 28 last year for allegedly carrying out various terror strikes in the country.
Bhatkal, who hails from Bhatkal village in Udupi district of north Karnataka, was allegedly involved in a string of terror attacks in Ahmedabad, Surat, Bangalore, Pune, Delhi and Hyderabad, the NIA had said.
30-year-old Bhatkal, who was earlier associated with banned outfit Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI), is suspected to have hatched a conspiracy with others to wage war against India.
