Murdered IM member's family to move SC for CBI probe

The family of suspected Indian Mujahideen operative Mohammad Qateel Siddiqui, who was murdered in a Pune jail on Friday, will move the Supreme Court for a probe by the Central Bureau of Investigation into his killing.

Advocate M S Khan, who was representing Siddiqui before a Delhi court, on Saturday said he will approach the apex court for a CBI inquiry into the incident.

"Though the Maharashtra government has ordered a CB-CID probe into the incident, we suspect foul play and will move the Supreme Court for a CBI inquiry," said Khan.

Siddiqui was one of the 11 alleged IM operatives who were arrested by the Special Cell of the Delhi Police and named in many terror cases -- the Chinnaswami stadium blast, the Jama Masjid blast and the Pune German bakery blast.

He was found murdered in a cell of a Pune jail on Friday morning. He was reportedly strangled by a fellow inmate.

"It is a case of a murder in broad daylight. A terror suspect is kept in a high-security prison. He must have been strangled when the cells were opened for taking him and other inmates to the court," Khan said.

The family, he said, is waiting for Siddiqui's body but wants the state's help in bringing it back to Darbhanga, their native place.

Khan will also be moving the court of a duty magistrate in Pune on Monday for directions to call a report into the incident from the Pune Anti-Terrorism Squad.

Siddiqui, a native of Bihar, was apprehended by the Special Cell of Delhi Police in November last year.

He was sent to the custody of ATS Pune on May 3 as the court of the chief metropolitan magistrate had allowed the agency's plea for his remand for interrogation in connection with the Pune German Bakery blast.