NEW DELHI : A special court today said it would consider on July 10 the NIA charge sheet giving clean chit to Sayyed Liyaqat Shah, arrested two years ago by Special Cell of Delhi Police which claimed that he was a terrorist of banned outfit Hizbul Mujahideen (HM) and was planning attacks.
The matter was heard by District Judge Amar Nath during in-camera proceedings and according to sources, the court posted the case for hearing on July 10.
Sources said Liyaqat did not appear before the court today and his counsel sought exemption from personal appearance on behalf of his client which was allowed by the court.
In its charge sheet, National Investigation Agency (NIA) has named absconder Sabir Khan Pathan as the main accused who had allegedly planted weapons on Liyaqat to project him as a terrorist.
The agency, while absolving Liyaqat of terror charges in its charge sheet, had submitted its report to the Union Home Ministry seeking its permission to carry out probe against some Delhi Police officials for allegedly “conspiring” to target Liyaqat.
Liyaqat was arrested by the Special Cell on March 20, 2013 when he was returning from Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) to the Kashmir Valley via Nepal at Saunali border with his wife and children.
He was then projected as a terrorist by the special cell which had alleged that he had come to carry out terror strikes in the national capital.
Jammu and Kashmir police had protested his arrest, saying Liyaqat was returning home as per state government’s policy of allowing people, who had ex-filtrated to PoK in early 1990s, to come back.
The then Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah had flagged the issue about Liyaqat’s arrest with the Home Ministry. The case was later transferred to the NIA.
Special cell had earlier claimed that on the basis of Liyaqat’s disclosure statement, it had conducted a raid at Room No 304, Haji Arafat Guest House at Jama Masjid here and had recovered arms, ammunition and explosives.
However, NIA contradicted the claims of Delhi Police and said in its charge sheet that probe conducted by it has “revealed that charges against the accused (Liyaqat) were not proved and that he was coming into India to obtain the benefit of surrender policy of the Government of Jammu and Kashmir.”
NIA also said that Khan was allegedly responsible for placing the weapons and explosives in the guest house room and had booked the room at Haji Arafat Guest House in Jama Masjid. Khan was declared a proclaimed offender by court. (AGENCIES)
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