NIA: Arrested J&K teen behind blast

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A teenage Jammu and Kashmir resident, arrested for his alleged involvement in the September 7 Delhi high court blast, was one of the “terrorists” and a conspirator in the incident, National Investigation Agency (NIA) told a special court on Thursday.

Amir Abbas Dev was sent to judicial custody till Friday by the Special NIA court, which, in the forenoon, remanded co-accused Abid Hussain to the custody of the agency till October 5.
“He (Dev) is one of the terrorists who had conducted bomb blast between gate number 4 and 5 of the Delhi high court. He is one of the conspirators and needs to be interrogated thoroughly to trace out their complexity in this terrorist crime and other associates are also involved in this terrorist crime and conspiracy,” NIA, in its application seeking to interrogate the accused, said. During separate proceedings, special NIA judge H.S. Sharma allowed the agency in the forenoon to quiz accused Abid Hussain.
However, Dev, produced with his face covered in the afternoon, was sent to judicial custody till Friday as there was no lawyer to defend him and oppose the plea of NIA seeking his custodial interrogation in the case.
Following a request by NIA in the morning for in-camera proceedings, the special judge asked all the journalists to vacate the courtroom. “Only those persons will stand in the court whom I will allow. Please vacate the court,” the judge said.
Hussain and Dev, who were brought to Delhi on Weednesday following their arrest at Kishtwar in Jammu and Kashmir, had allegedly sent emails to media houses claiming responsibility for the blast on behalf of banned terror outfit Harkat ul-Jihad al-Islami (HuJI).
“We own responsibility of the blast. Our demand is that Afzal Guru’s death sentence should be repealed immediately as we would target major high courts and the Supreme Court of India,” the terror mail had said. The NIA has announced a reward money of Rs 10 lakh for anybody giving information about the perpetrators of the blast. Fifteen people were killed and over 70 injured in the blast.