Mumbai Police goof up on militants' custody application

The Mumbai Police found itself in a piquant situation when it sought the custody of Indian Mujahideen (IM) militants, who are suspects in serial blasts in the country, in connection with the 26/11 probe on terror strikes, only to withdraw after admitting it was an error.

The police retracted since they had previously made a remand application on December 15 to investigate if the IM militants had any links with those behind the Mumbai terror attacks.
     
On January 2, the police moved a remand application but retracted the very next day by filing a corrigendum in court. Joint commissioner of police (crime) Rakesh Maria said it was an "error on the part of the investigating officer of the IM case". Maria had said that the plea seeking custody of the militants in the 26/11 probe was erroneously mentioned in the remand application.

The crime branch had filed the January 2 remand application in the special MCOCA court, saying it wanted to verify if the 20 alleged members of terror group Indian
Mujahideen (IM) had any links with the Lashkar-e-Taiba group allegedly responsible for the November 26 attack.

Assistant commissioner of police Ashok Duraphe, who had drafted the remand application, then filed a corrigendum before the MCOCA court the next day requesting the court to delete that point from the application.
     
Maria said his department had filed a corrigendum, which stood for both the remand applications. While six of the IM operatives are in Mumbai's Arthur Road Jail, the rest are in the custody of the Gujarat Police in connection with the Ahmedabad and Surat blasts.

In its first application before a court on December 15 last year, the police had sought custody of the Indian Mujahideen militants, allegedly involved in serial bomb blasts in Ahmedabad, Delhi, and Bangalore.

In the December.15 remand plea, the crime branch sought an extension of 60 more days to file a charge sheet against the alleged IM members as investigation was still in progress.

The application, moved by ACP Ashok Duraphe and public prosecutor Kalpana Chavan, said the police wanted to "establish the link between the IM militants and Ajmal Amir Kasab, the lone accused caught alive in November 26 terror attack".

Special MCOCA judge YD Shinde had accepted the plea and granted the prosecution 60 more days to file the charge sheet.