NIA court orders release of terror suspect

A National Investigation Agency Court on Thursday ordered release of a terror suspect, who allegedly conspired to kill prominent politicians and journalists in three states, on 'statutory' bail since the NIA failed to file chargesheet against him, a lawyer representing him said.

"The NIA court in Bangalore has ordered release of Ejaz Ahmed Mirza, working in DRDO as scientist, on statutory bail as the NIA failed to file chargesheet against him," Akmal Razvi, advocate, representing the accused, told PTI.

The court ordered his release upon furnishing of two sureties for Rs 25,000 each and directed Mirza to surrender his passport.

Other two terror suspects Journalist Muthi-Ur-Rehman Siddiqui and Yusuf Nalband were released after the NIA court ordered their release on February 26. The court had observed that there was no prosecutable evidence against them. So far, 15 persons have been arrested in the case while the remaining 10 are absconding. Siddiqui and Nalband were among those arrested in August last.

In its chargesheet filed in a special NIA court in Bangalore on February 20 against 12 of the 15 persons, the NIA had alleged that the accused had hatched a conspiracy to commit terror acts in India by a Lashkar-e-Tayiba supported terror network based abroad and their associates in Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra.

The NIA, which took over investigation in Nov 2012, had stated that charges against Siddiqui and Nalband were being dropped for lack of evidence.