Chennai : Taking over the probe into a terror plot allegedly hatched to target US and Israeli consulates in South India, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) filed an first information report (FIR) in a special court on Saturday, PTI reports.
The FIR naming arrested suspected ISI agent Zakir Hussain was filed in the Special Court for bomb blast cases in suburban Poonamallee. NIA has taken over the probe from the Tamil Nadu Police. A Sri Lankan national, 37-year-old Hussain, arrested here on April 29, had told state police during interrogation that he was acting under instructions from his handler, allegedly an official in the Pakistani High Commission in Colombo. Incriminating documents, including photographs of vital installations, were allegedly seized from him. He was part of a plot hatched from Sri Lanka to target foreign establishments in Chennai and Bangalore. The state Q Branch Police handling cases linked to national security was dealing with the case till its transfer to NIA.
The Tamil Nadu government consented to transfer the case to the national agency as investigation had to be conducted in countries including Malaysia, Sri Lanka and Maldives. Two more suspects, Mohammed Salim, 39, and Sivabalan, 45, a Sri Lankan national, were arrested on charges of supplying counterfeit Indian currency notes to Hussain. All the three are lodged in Puzhal Central Prison.
A metropolitan magistrate court on May 27 had issued a non-bailable warrant against Mohammad Hossaini, an accomplice of Hussain, arrested in Malaysia last month and his extradition process is under way. [button style=”e.g. solid, border” size=”e.g. small, medium, big” link=”” target=””][/button]
