13/7 Mumbai blasts: Police remand of three extended

Herald Globe (IANS) Friday 10th February, 2012

A Mumbai court Friday extended the police custody of three accused in the July 13 serial blasts case that killed 27 people and injured over 125, a lawyer said.

"The court has extended the remand of Naqi Ahmed Vasi Ahmed Shaikh, 22, and Nadeem Akhtar Ashfaque Shaikh, 23, till Feb 17. Another accused, Haroon Rashid Abdul Hamid Naik, 35, has been remanded in police custody till Feb 18," defence lawyer Sharif Shaikh told IANS.

Mumbai police Anti Terrorist Squad (ATS) had on Jan 23 arrested Naqi and Nadeem in connection with the case. The ATS was also investigating Naik's role into the financial trail and the conspiracy in this case.

On Tuesday, an ATS official said that Naik had met Al Qaeda chief Osama Bin Laden in Pakistan in 2001 and trained under him.

Naik was nabbed from the Mumbai international airport on charges of possessing fake currency notes on August 22 last year and since then was lodged in jail.

According to the ATS, Naik allegedly used hawala channels to fund the triple blasts in Mumbai last year. He was also known to Sheikh Omar, the killer of Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl in Karachi, Pakistan, and Aftab Ansari, the mastermind of 2002 American Center attack in Kolkata.

Three blasts at close intervals, on July 13 last year, shook the country's diamond and gold hubs - Opera House and Zaveri Bazar - and a busy commercial area of Dadar, killing at least 27 people and leaving around 125 injured.