The Delhi High Court on Tuesday asked the National Investigation Agency (NIA) to respond to a plea by suspected key operative of Indian Mujahideen Abdul Wahid Sidibappa — arrested in 2016 in a case of alleged conspiracy to carry out terror acts in the country — seeking bail on the grounds of “inordinate delay” in the trial.
A Bench of Justices Siddharth Mridul and Anup Jairam Bhambhani posted the case for May 6.
The plea said the accused had been lodged in Tihar Jail for nearly five years and there had been no progress in the case, registered eight years ago. The petition said trial had not commenced as charges were yet to be framed.
The petition also sought a direction to special courts constituted under the NIA Act and operating in Delhi to strictly adhere to the mandate for conducting day-to-day trial of scheduled offences pertaining to the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act.
Sidibappa, a resident of Bhatkal in Karnataka and a cousin of Indian Mujahideen co-founder Yasin Bhatkal, was arrested from the Indira Gandhi International Airport here on his deportation from Dubai on May 20, 2016.
The NIA, which filed four chargesheets in the case, had alleged that Sidibappa played an active role as the main conduit in the chain of fund supply from Pakistan via Dubai to other IM operatives based in India for the commission of terror acts.
