2 accused challenge legality of arrest, probe agency gets notice

The National Investigation Agency (NIA) court here has issued notice to the probe agency on an application filed by two persons arrested in connection with a grenade attack at a house in Sector 10 here on September 11 this year.

In the application filed before the court through advocates Vinay Yadav and Prakul Kashyap, Akashdeep Singh and Amarjit Singh challenged their arrest and urged the court to set aside the arrest order as it was ‘illegal’.

The accused were brought from the Central Jail, Amritsar, and produced before the court by the Punjab Police today. The NIA had sought their remand for interrogation.

The counsel for the accused opposed the NIA application for remand and argued that the earlier orders of the Magistrate First Class vide which the accused were remanded in judicial custody was a violation of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA). They referred to the judgment of the Supreme Court in the case of Prabir Purkayashtha versus the State of NCT Delhi.

They said the accused were not named in the case and were nominated on the basis of disclosure statements. The case was initially registered at the Sector 3 police station. The inquiry was later transferred to the NIA, which sought remand of the applicants.

The applicants have not been supplied the “grounds of arrest”, a mandatory requirement under the UAPA. The applicants were not supplied a copy of the FIR registered by the NIA, a copy of remand papers and the counsel of their choice at the remand proceedings to effectively defend them.

The liberty of the applicants was curtailed without following the “procedure established by law”, a violation of the fundamental right guaranteed under Article 21 of the constitution.

The court has issued notice to the NIA for November 28.

The police claimed that the accused had hurled a grenade at the behest of US-based gangster-turned-terrorist Harpreet Singh, alias Happy Pashia, and a Pakistan-based terrorist Harwinder Singh Rinda. The police claimed that the two accused were allegedly involved in transporting a hand grenade, which was thrown at the house by two other accused. So far, the police have arrested five persons in the case — Amarjit Singh, Akashdeep Singh, Rohan Masih, Vishal Masih and Kuldeep Singh, the auto driver who transported Rohan and Vishal.