On Tuesday, however, the NIA produced him before the court again and submitted that it wants to surrender his custody, as his interrogation is complete, and that he should be remanded to judicial custody.(Representational Image)THE NATIONAL Investigation Agency (NIA) last week arrested a retired assistant commissioner of the Delhi Police for allegedly providing a weapon to an accused linked to a radical group attempting to revive Sikh militancy for a separate Khalistan.
Sundarlal Parashar (62), a resident of New Delhi, was arrested on April 24 and produced before a Mumbai court on April 25. The court sent him to NIA custody till May 2.
On Tuesday, however, the NIA produced him before the court again and submitted that it wants to surrender his custody, as his interrogation is complete, and that he should be remanded to judicial custody. Following this, Parashar was sent to judicial custody till April 14.
In its earlier remand, the NIA had claimed that another accused in the case — arrested on December 8, last year — Delhi resident Moinuddin Siddiqui, had claimed that a pistol and live rounds recovered from him were provided to him by Parashar. During interrogation, Parashar had allegedly told the NIA that he found the weapon in an open space in Delhi.
Siddiqui later gave the weapon to another accused, Harpal Singh. The NIA has claimed that Singh was active on social media seeking the creation of a separate Khalistan and was making attempts to revive Sikh militancy. Earlier, the agency had claimed that Singh has links with radical group Babbar Khalsa International. It has also named a fourth accused, a person suspected to be living in Cyprus, in the case. The NIA has claimed that 250 calls were made between Parashar and Siddiqui. Last week, it had sought further time from the court to file a chargesheet against Singh, stating that it wanted to verify the facts surfacing out of Siddiqui and Parashar’s interrogations.
On Tuesday, Special Judge S M Bhosale asked the NIA what progress it has made in the case since last week. Perusing the case diary, the judge said the NIA has not made any submissions on the progress with regard to the 250 calls allegedly made between the two accused.
It added that while the NIA had sought an extension to file a chargesheet against Singh, it has made no submissions on the interrogation of the co-accused in the case. The court directed that a report be submitted to the NIA inspector general of police.
It also asked the NIA if it was surrendering Parashar’s custody before May 2 as “he is a police officer”. To this, the NIA counsel told the court that their interrogation in the probe so far stands completed.The NIA also told the court in its remand plea that there is a provision in law allowing the agency to surrender custody and reserve its right to seek it further if relevant facts come to the fore later.
Advocate Ashok Saraogi, meanwhile, filed a bail application on behalf of Parashar. Saraogi said that the bail plea stated that Parashar had been in contact with Siddiqui as the former was his informer. He added that as Parashar had led to the arrest of Siddiqui in a previous case, the latter had named him to falsely implicate him. The court called for NIA’s reply to the bail plea and is likely to hear arguments later this week.
