In a major development in the Shahina SIM supply case, the Kochi city police have found that Noushad, the man who handed over the SIMs brought by his love Deepa Cherian alias Shahina, to LeT commander Thadiyantevide Naseer, got himself into jail by faking a case.
Noushad's attempt was to help Naseer who was lodged in the Ernakulam sub jail in connection with the Bengaluru blasts case, the police said.
Gopakumar V, sub inspector of police attached to the Palarivattom station, submitted before the Kerala High Court that Noushad had terror links across the country and he had been to sensitive border areas along with Shahina.
The police made the submission on a plea they had filed seeking an extension to Shahina’s custody. The court on Friday extended her custody by five days.
“Noushad’s role in the NDPS case for which he is currently remanded has to be elucidated”, Gopakumar submitted. The circumstances that took Shahina’s lover to jail need to be verified in detail”, Gopakumar submitted. The police are probing how Noushad got in touch with the drug mafia and what exactly Shahina’s role was, the affidavit said.
The police had questioned Noushad and Shahina but they were not exactly cooperative during the interrogations. The police found that the extremists had made calls from the jail to the UK, Dubai and Kazakhstan during the 13 days the SIMs had been active. Gopakumar and his team are currently in West Bengal to identify the people who contacted Noushad and Shahina.
Hardcore extremists like Thadiyantavide Naseer and 16 others who were accused in many terror related cases in India were lodged along with Noushad in Ernakulam sub jail. The prosecution case was that Shahina had bought two SIM cards without providing ID proof, from the Palarivattom Vodafone Store for Noushad, who in turn gave them to Naseer.