NIA gets custody of 20-year-old linked to Red Fort blast for ten days

NIA had stated that Wani allegedly provided technical support for carrying out terror attacks by modifying drones and attempting to make rockets ahead of the bomb blast.

A Delhi court on Tuesday sent 20-year-old Jasir Bilal Wani, alleged co-conspirator in the Red Fort bomb blast case, to 10 days of custody to the National Investigation Agency.

Jasir Bilal Wani being brought to Patiala House Cpourts on Tuesday. (PTI)

The accused was produced before Principal Districts and Sessions Judge Anju Bajaj Chandna of Patiala House Courts, amid tight security led by paramilitary forces.Bilal was formally arrested by the Jammu and Kashmir police and handed over to the NIA on Monday, which secured his transit remand and brought him to the capital.

Wani, a student of Government Degree College Levodara in Kulgam, J&K, was initially picked up by state police from Qazigund in Anantnag district last week along with his uncle.

NIA had stated that Wani allegedly provided technical support for carrying out terror attacks by modifying drones and attempting to make rockets ahead of the bomb blast.

A Delhi court had on Monday remanded another accused, Rashid Mir, NIA’s first arrest in the case, to 10 days in NIA’s custody. The agency had claimed in its remand that Mir provided logistical support to the main accused and purported suicide bomber who died in the blast, Umar Nabi, by assisting him in obtaining the i20 car that exploded in an arterial road near the historic Red Fort and weapons.

While Wani was represented by a legal aid lawyer, the NIA was represented by Special Public Prosecutors Kushdeep Gaur and Anil Dabas.

Wani was a neighbour of brothers Adil and Muzaffar Rather, two doctors who are allegedly part of the terror module behind the Red Fort blast. While Muzaffar is believed to be in Afghanistan at present, his younger brother Adil was arrested from Saharanpur in Uttar Pradesh.

Wani’s father, Bilal Ahmad Wani, had set himself ablaze on Sunday after police picked up his son and brother for questioning on Saturday. He died of his injuries on Monday.

Wani’s aunt Naseema said, “He kept in touch with the doctor as he was a doctor and the family had no suspicion that he was doing something else. My husband and Jasir were picked up by police. My husband is innocent and should be released. We belong to a very simple family.”