‘NIA doesn’t have power to probe case’, says Areeb Majeed

Majeed, who was arrested on his return to India in 2014, claimed that the agency does not have the power to investigate cases that took place outside Indian territory in 2014.

Areeb Majeed, accused of travelling to Syria and joining banned terrorist organisation ISIS, on Monday moved a fresh bail plea claiming that the National Investigation Agency (NIA) does not have the power to probe his case.

Majeed is accused of travelling to Syria and joining banned terrorist organisation ISIS.(HT FILE)

Majeed, who was arrested on his return to India in 2014, claimed that the agency does not have the power to investigate cases that took place outside Indian territory in 2014. This power was given to the NIA only after an amendment this year, he said.

“The delegation of the power to NIA to investigate the scheduled offences beyond India was granted only in 2019, which shows [that] prior to 2019, the NIA was not vested with the powers to either register [an] FIR or investigate or prosecute a person for offences committed outside India,” reads his bail plea.

Majeed has also claimed that so far, the agency has not brought any direct evidence against him on record. He pleaded that he has been falsely implicated and is in jail for more than four years. The court has now asked the prosecution to reply to his bail plea.Majeed, who is fighting his case in person, was arrested in November 2014. He is the sole youth to have returned to India after having allegedly joined the banned organisation. According to the prosecution, Majeed, along with absconding accused Saheem Tanki and Aman Tandel, entered into a criminal conspiracy from January 2014 to November 2014 to commit terror acts in Iraq and Syria.