Court extends NIA custody of Yasin

DELHI: A Delhi court on Tuesday extended till September 17 the NIA custody of Yasin and his close associate Asadullah Akhtar after the agency claimed they were involved in a deep rooted conspiracy and had executed various blasts in India. Yasin (Ahmed) and Akhtar were produced before District judge IS Mehta amid tight security after expiry of their 12 days of custodial interrogation by the National Investigation Agency (NIA). The court extended their NIA custody till September 17 after hearing arguments from both the sides. The court, meanwhile, allowed NIA's separate plea for taking yasin’s and Akhtar's DNA samples and specimen handwritings for further probe, preservation and comparison with various seized articles. During arguments, NIA sought extension of police custody of both accused by 15 days, saying that during their custodial interrogation, Yasin and Akhtar disclosed they were using several e-mail and chat identities through which they were in touch with their associates and handlers, operating from Pakistan. Opposing NIA's plea, advocates MS Khan and S Qamar, who appeared for Yasin and Akhtar, argued that the alleged disclosures of the accused during NIA's interrogation were "self created" by the probe agency. The defence lawyers also claimed that NIA was "intending to implicate the accused persons falsely in different cases." stadium blast in Bangalore on April 17, 2010 and Mumbai serial blasts of July 13, 2011 was carried out by IM, the NIA has said.