New Delhi: A Delhi court on Tuesday directed
compulsory presence of a juvenile welfare officer during
interrogation of a suspected Indian Mujahideen terrorist while
sending him to police custody till March 27.
Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Kaveri Baweja allowed the
plea of Delhi police to question Salman alias Chotu, who
claimed himself to be a minor, and directed the presence of
juvenile welfare officer at the time of his quizzing.
The court appointed Delhi police's Special Cell Sub
Inspector Neeraj as juvenile welfare officer for the purpose,
while giving police custody of Salam as an application filed
by him claiming himself to be juvenile was still pending.
Seeking custodial interrogation of Salam, police claimed
that it was necessary to unearth the whole conspiracy relating
to future planning and attack by the terror group.
The investigators also submitted that they wanted to quiz
Salman, arrested on March six by Anti-Terrorism Squad of UP
Police from Siddarth Nagar, about 300 km from Lucknow, to
confront him with details of his phone call records.
The court granted the police plea noting that the
allegations against him were serious.
Salman was also an accused in the case regarding serial
blasts in the capital on September 13, 2008 which had claimed
26 lives and left over 135 others injured.
Meanwhile, the court summoned the head master of a Mumbai
school, which he had first attended, besides asking to submit
all the records, on March 27 to decide Salman's plea that he
was a minor at the time of serial blasts in the capital.
His counsel had filed the application before the court
with a copy of his class 10th mark-sheet of Uttar Pradesh
Board mentioning his date of birth as October 3, 1992.
The police, however, had claimed there were contradictory
reports with regard to his age as the passport obtained by him
on forged documents from Nepal showed it to be May 27, 1985.
The AIIMS which was directed to constitute a medical
board for the purpose opined his age to be between 25 to 26.
PTI
First Published: Tuesday, March 23, 2010, 21:12