NIA gets 6-day remand of Kafil in Darbhanga parcel blast case

PATNA: The National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Saturday got six-day remand of alleged Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) man Kafil for interrogation in the Darbhanga railway station parcel blast case and pan-India terror plot.
Kafil and Haji Salim, an alleged LeT recruiter in India, were brought to Patna from Kairana in Uttar Pradesh and produced before a special NIA court on Saturday. Earlier it was reported that Salim was the father of Kafil, but NIA sources on Saturday said they only belonged to the same village.
The NIA had urged the court for ten days’ remand of Kafil. Since Salim is not keeping well, the NIA did not seek his custodial remand for the time being. Salim has problems in urinating and had to be taken to IGIMS after landing in Patna to get a catheter fixed. The court sent both to Beur central jail for a day. Their next production date has been fixed on July 9.
Meanwhile, NIA took custody of Mohammad Nasir Malik and his brother Imran Khan from Beur jail for interrogation on Saturday morning. Both were recruited allegedly by Salim in the terror network. Both were arrested in Hyderabad on June 30 and brought to Patna on Friday. The NIA has got their seven days’ remand.
The parcel containing a chemical kept in a glass bottle wrapped with adhesive tapes in women’s clothes was booked at Secunderabad railway station. The parcel had exploded while being dumped at platform number one of Darbhanga railway station on June 17.
The NIA sources said the interrogating team will try to know about their terror plans in India and the other members in their cell with whom they were in touch and who were providing them logistics and financing them in India and how.
“The most crucial point of interrogation would be to know about the other members of the LeT sleeper cell and who was handling them from Pakistan,” a top NIA source said.
He said the agency has found traces of the chemical used in the parcel from the residence of Nasir and Imran. Sources said the Enforcement Directorate (ED) might also interrogate the two. “Money was being pumped in India through hawala network from Pakistan, but we don’t know the channel used by them for financing the terror network,” a source said.
Meanwhile, NIA has alerted the prison authorities to remain alert about Salim. Sources said the Beur jail prison authorities have been asked to arrange best possible doctors for Salim and avoid even slightest negligence. Sources said a team of doctors has been deputed for him in the jail hospital.