New Delhi: In the Red Fort blast case in which 13 people were killed and dozens were injured, a Delhi court on Friday extended the National Investigation Agency (NIA) custody of accused Soyab by 10 days.
Soyab, arrested in connection with the November 10 blast in the national Capital, was produced before the NIA court at Patiala House after his earlier custodial remand expired. He had been sent to 10 days' NIA custody on November 26.
According to the NIA, Soyab allegedly sheltered key conspirator Dr Umar Mohammad, also known as Umar un Nabi, and arranged logistical support shortly before the blast. He is the seventh person arrested in the case.
According to the NIA, Soyab not only harboured Umar before the attack but also provided logistical support crucial to the execution of the November 10 car bombing near the Red Fort that killed 13 people and left many others injured.
According to the officials, Soyab worked as a lab assistant at Al-Falah University in Faridabad and allegedly helped Umar procure chemicals from the university lab. Shoaib, who resides in the Dauj area of Faridabad, also arranged a rented accommodation for Umar at his sister-in-law’s house in Hidayat Colony, Nuh, shortly before the blast.
Earlier on December 3, A Delhi court had extended the NIA custody of Jasir Bilal Wani, an accused in the Delhi terror blast case, by seven days.
Wani was produced in a Special NIA court in Patiala House Court after his previous seven-day custody ended on Wednesday.
On November 10, a car explosion near Delhi's Red Fort killed 13 people and injured dozens of others, triggering a high-level investigation that revealed the existence of a sophisticated 'white-collar' terror network with ties to Jaish-e-Mohammed.
Even before the blast, several arrests had been made across multiple states, and investigators had begun to piece together evidence of an interstate terror module.
Following the explosion, the NIA found that the incident was connected to earlier arrests, leading to a series of new revelations as the probe deepened.
Meanwhile, ongoing investigations have revealed chilling details about terrorist Umar's methods and preparations.
According to interrogation inputs from arrested members of the terror module, Umar maintained what investigators describe as a "mobile workstation" -- a large suitcase containing bomb-making tools, chemical compounds and containers. He carried it with him wherever he went.
Umar, a medical professional associated with Al-Falah University in Faridabad, reportedly conducted chemical tests in his room on campus before creating the final Improvised Explosive Device (IED).
One of the arrested suspects, Dr Muzamil Shakeel, also affiliated with the same university, confirmed to interrogators that Umar experimented with substances that were later used in the blast.
--IANS