Phone calls by Nazir: Probe hits roadblock

With NIA yet to respond, the investigation into the phone calls made by terror-accused Thadiyentavide Nazir has been stalled

The investigation into the secret international phone calls made by  Lashkar-e-Taiba southern commander Thadiyentavide Nazir from Ernakulam Sub Jail has reached a dead end with the National Investigation Agency (NIA)   yet to respond in this regard.

Though the state police had requested the NIA to take up the case, the top  police officials are now pinning their hopes on the Internal Security   Investigation Team (ISIT) of the Kerala Police to start an investigate the case.However, city police officials said the investigation into the case had to   be conducted by an agency like NIA as there are international links into the  case. “Nazeer had made international calls to UAE, UK and Kazhasthan besides Tamil Nadu and Uttar Pradesh. However, we could not trace the people to whom he had made the calls. Though we travelled to Tamil Nadu and Uttar Pradesh, our investigation couldn’t yield a result,” officials said.

It was on July 2012 that the police received alert from the NIA regarding the phone calls made from Ernakulam Sub Jail after they traced signals from a nearby mobile tower. Following this, Shahina alias Deepa Cherian was arrested from her residence on SRM Road. Shahina had purchased two SIM cards from a Vodafone retail store at Palarivattom without providing valid ID proofs. She influenced Arun Paul, a sales executive from Kothamangalam, who did not de-activate the SIM cards within the stipulated time. Shahina handed over the SIM cards to Noushad, her lover who was in prison with Thadiyentavida Nazir and other 16 people who were accused for terror activities. The SIM cards were used to make the calls.

The entire details of the case collected during the investigation was handed over to the NIA. This include evidence collected from Solapuram and Murshidabad.

“If NIA refuse to take up the case, we will hand over it to ISIT which investigates other cases. We still hope that  NIA would take up the case considering it nature. However, ISIT is also capable of investigating sensitive cases,” police official said.