Delhi HC blast: Judicial custody of Amir Abbas Dev extended

The judicial custody of suspected terrorist Amir Abbas Dev, arrested for his alleged role in the blast outside the Delhi High Court premises in September last year, was today extended by two weeks by a Delhi court.

Dev was produced before District Judge H S Sharma during an in-chamber hearing after the expiry of his two-week judicial custody.

According to court sources, the District Judge extended till March 12 the judicial custody of Dev after the National Investigation Agency (NIA) said the probe in the case was still on.

Dev, a native of Jammu and Kashmir, was arrested by the NIA on the charge of sending terror e-mails to media groups after the September 7 blast which killed 17 people and injured over 90.

Another co-accused in the case Wasim Akram Malik, who is currently in jail under judicial custody, would be produced in the court tomorrow.

A magistrate had earlier recorded Dev's statement under Section 164 of the CrPC during in-camera proceedings.

A statement recorded by a magistrate under section 164 of the CrPC bars the accused from resiling from his deposition during the trial and makes him liable for prosecution for perjury if he does so.

Regarding Malik, the probe agency had said that he was a 'key link' in the conspiracy behind the blast outside gate number 5 of the High Court.