NEW DELHI: A city court on Saturday took cognisance of the National Investigation Agency’s (NIA) 7,500-page chargesheet against 13 accused in the Red Fort blast case that killed 11 people and left several injured in November last year.
Special Judge Prashant Sharma took cognisance of the agency’s chargesheet and posted the matter for further proceedings on September 9. On May 14 this year, the NIA had filed the chargesheet against 10 accused people.
All 10 accused, including the main accused Dr Umer Un Nabi (deceased), were linked to Ansar Ghazwat-ul-Hind (AGuH), an offshoot of Al-Qaeda in the Indian Subcontinent (AQIS), the chargesheet had said. The next month, the agency filed a supplementary chargesheet against three more persons, including an absconding paediatrician identified as the founding member of a terror module, for involvement in the blast, taking the number of those chargesheeted in the case to 13.
The trial court had in February granted 45 days more to the NIA to complete its investigation in the case. The court had passed the order on an application filed by the central probe agency, which sought three more months from the court to complete its probe, which it claimed to be “on a crucial stage”.
The agency said it required more time to conclude the probe in light of a new evidence. As per law, if the probe agency does not file a charge sheet within a stipulated period from the arrest of an accused, he gets entitled to bail. The period, however, can be extended by a court.
A city court on Saturday adjourned framing of charges against Lalu Prasad Yadav and others in the ED’s land-for-job and IRCTC scam cases. Special Judge Vishal Gogne adjourned the ED land case to September 30 and the IRCTC matter to September 7. On October 13 last year, the court framed charges against Yadav, his wife and son in a CBI case.
