Darbhanga railway station parcel blast: NIA gets permission to interrogate ailing LeT recruiter inside jail for three days

PATNA: The National Investigation Agency on Friday got permission to interrogate alleged Lashkar-e-Taiba recruiter Haji Salim inside Beur central jail for three days where he is lodged at present amid high security for his alleged involvement in Darbhanga railway station parcel blast case and pan-India terror plot.
Salim, after his arrest with associate Kafil Ansari from Kairana in Shamli, Uttar Pradesh on June 2, had fallen ill.
NIA had taken Salim to IGIMS in Patna next day for not being able to urinate and thereafter doctors fitted him with catheter.
He was forwarded to judicial remand with court’s direction that necessary treatment facility be provided to him behind the bars.
NIA was unable to take him on remand for detailed interrogation solely due to his illness. The agency on Friday prayed before the court of ADJ-XIII Rajesh Kumar Dwivedi (in-charge special NIA court) for Salim’s three-day interrogation inside jail starting from Saturday which was allowed.
Sources said Salim is a crucial linkage between the LeT terrorist brothers Mohammad Nasir Khan and Imran Khan and Pakistan based operatives of the terror organisation.
“Only he could well paint the larger picture of the pan-India terror attack plot planned by Pakistan based handlers. He also had been there several times and can yield important names linked to LeT or ISI either based in Lahore or Karachi to NIA,” a source said.
Meanwhile, NIA didn’t press for further remand of both brothers following which they were forwarded to judicial custody.
Both of them remained in NIA’s custody for 14 days during they were interrogated for hours and also were taken to Kairana and Hyderabad multiple times. All four will be produced again before court on July 23.
Prisons sources said Salim is still fixed with a catheter and doctors inside jail are treating him in consultation with experts of IGIMS. “He has chronic kidney disease. Several test reports of Salim were awaited,” a source said.
Sources said Salim and Kafil Ansari are in a high security ward with men guarding them round the clock. “Nasir and Imran would also be kept in high security ward,” the source said.
NIA arrested Nasir and Imran from Hyderabad on June 30. Though native of Kairana, they settled there two decades back and were into garment business.
NIA had said it was them who prepared an IED with liquid explosives, kept it inside parcel and booked it in a train from Secunderabad which resulted in an explosion at platform number one in Darbhanga on June 17.
On July 2, NIA arrested rest two for their alleged involvement in the blast and conspiracy for countrywide terror acts to be executed with both brothers.