New Delhi: A Delhi city court on Thursday granted bail to four Kargil-based students arrested by Delhi Police’s special cell in connection with a criminal conspiracy that led to a low-intensity explosion near the Israeli embassy in the national capital on January 29, the Indian Express has reported.
Granting bail to students, metropolitan magistrate Dr. Pankaj Sharma said that “nothing incriminating had been found against them, and that they were students with blemish-free antecedents”. The accused Nazir Hussain, Zulfikar Ali, Ajaz Hussain and Muzammil Hussain, all in their 20s, Sharma noted, were not linked to any terrorist organisation, nor do they constitute any threat to society.
“Considering the age, antecedents and the fact that all the accused persons are students having roots in the society and fixed place of abode, in the backdrop of the fact that IO [investigating officer] has the custody of the relevant evidence, all the accused persons are ordered to be released on bail,” the Indian Express quoted Sharma as saying.
According to The Times of India, the students were released on a bail bond of Rs 50,000 with one surety of the same amount each.
Although it is the National Investigation Agency (NIA) which has been probing the case, the Delhi Police’s special cell registered a case of criminal conspiracy in the same matter and apprehended the Kargil students.
The students were arrested by Delhi Police on June 23, days after the NIA announced Rs 10 lakh reward for the identification of two persons captured by CCTV footage near the Israeli embassy allegedly when they were planting explosive material.
According to Delhi Police public relations officer (PRO) Chinmoy Biswal, the students from Kargil were picked up during a joint operation with a “central agency” and local police, and had been brought to Delhi.
The Delhi Police argued in the court that one of the accused was posting “highly objectionable” content on Twitter against Israel, the US and other Western nations, and he was followed by another accused. However, the court held that nothing in the report filed by the investigation officer indicated that the accused persons were posting anything objectionable against India.
To the investigation officer’s claim that Nazir, one of the accused, is a supporter of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), the court observed that IRGC is not a terrorist organisation.
The court also held that the accused had been cooperative in the investigation and the Delhi Police were already in possession of their electronic gadgets. As analysis of electronic devices would take long time, the court said it was prudent to grant them bail as the accused are students, and they are “blemish-free”.
Earlier, the accused persons submitted to the court that Delhi Police’s investigation was based on media reports “as certain posts were uploaded on social media by the accused persons and their mobile phones were switched off on the day the alleged incident took place”. The students’ counsel told the court that they are preparing for competitive exams and pleaded for bail.
The special cell had told the court that although no call or messages were found on the mobile phone of Nazir, who used to post “objectionable content” on social media, on January 28 and 29, analysis of call detail records (CDR) of the other accused showed that they were present in Delhi when the blast took place.
The Delhi Police said although no calls or messages were found on their phones, the police claimed the accused were using a virtual private network (VPN). A VPN allows the user to create a private network on a public internet network. It shields the user’s browsing activity on the public network.
On January 29, a low-intensity explosion took place near APJ Abdul Kalam Road in New Delhi at 5.05 pm, 1.7 kilometres from Vijay Chowk where the Beating Retreat ceremony was being held. The blast took place near a pavement. None was injured in the incident. The windshields of three parked cars were damaged. The NIA designated the incident as a “terrorist attack”. January 29, the day when the blast took place, marks the anniversary of the establishment of India-Israel diplomatic ties, after both countries set up their embassies in New Delhi and Tel Aviv in 1992.