New Delhi: More than two years have passed since the four Muslim men, then in their 20s, suspected to be involved with a low-intensity blast that took place near the Israel Embassy in January 2021, were arrested in a case of “criminal conspiracy”.
For their families, however, a similar incident last month came as a reminder of how the four men were arrested and interrogated by the Delhi Police Special Cell and the National Investigation Agency (NIA), while their names were flashed on news channels.
At the time, investigators claimed they suspected the men’s involvement in a “conspiracy” to “plan and execute terror activities”.
Nazir Hussain (26), Zulfikar Ali Wazir (25), Aiaz Hussain (28), and Muzammil Hussain (25) spent nearly 15 days behind bars before a court granted them bail in July 2021, Nazir’s father Mohammed Baqir told ThePrint. “Our boys were picked up randomly. They (police) couldn’t prove anything and had no evidence against them,” he added.
A police source told ThePrint, “The men were arrested not in the Israel embassy blast case but a criminal conspiracy case that we had registered soon after. We suspected that the men were involved in the blast so we took their custody to question them.”
“We, however, couldn’t find anything against them. No fresh or concrete evidence could be gathered because of which they got bail. The four haven’t been called in for questioning even once since they got bail”, the source added.
Responding to a question about whether they remain suspects, the source said, “The criminal conspiracy case is still under investigation. They have not been given a clean chit till now. If we do not find anything, we will eventually file an untraced report in the case.”
ThePrint reached special commissioner (Special Cell) H.S. Dhaliwal for comment, but didn’t receive a response till the time of publication of this report.
The lawyer of the men, Haji Mustafa, however, said the case is akin to a “sword hanging on their heads”.
“They are scared, with this new case,” he added, referring to the low-intensity blast near the Embassy of Israel on 26 December last year.
Also Read: Ahead of blast, Israel Embassy received ‘threat messages’, flagged security concerns in October
‘Extreme harassment’
On 29 January 2021, a low-intensity blast took place about 100 metres from the Embassy of Israel on Delhi’s Dr APJ Abdul Kalam road. The probe was handed over to the Delhi Police Special Cell, which lodged a case against unidentified accused.
Five days later, the probe was transferred to the NIA. The Special Cell then lodged another case in connection with the blast, alleging criminal conspiracy. The four men were then arrested in the criminal conspiracy case. However, they were also questioned by both the Special Cell and NIA in the Israel Blast case.
Later, the NIA also released CCTV footage of two masked men near the blast site and announced a reward of Rs 10 lakh for any information that might lead investigators to them.
In June that year, the four men were detained from Sankoo in Ladakh’s Kargil district and brought to Delhi by investigators who suspected their role in the blast. The suspicion was rooted in purported social media activity, their phone activity on the day of the blast and alleged support for Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).
At the time, Nazir was pursuing a Master of Physical Education (M.P.Ed) from Panjab University and Zulfiqar his post-graduation from Dyal Singh College via a distance learning programme, while Muzammil was a postgraduate from Panjab University and Aiaz a graduate from Ramjas College preparing for the civil services exam.
Nazir and Zulfiqar are cousins of Aiaz and Muzammil, who are siblings.
“On 22 June (2021), we were informed by the local police who came to our house that they wanted to question the boys. We had no idea about the allegations but told them (police) that they would cooperate. They were then taken to Delhi. We weren’t allowed to meet them before they were taken there,” Nazir’s father Mohammed Baqir said, adding that the family had to face “extreme harassment”.
However, the four men returned to Sankoo following their release on bail in the Special Cell criminal conspiracy case in July 2021. While granting them bail, the court had noted that investigators failed to furnish any evidence “incriminating” the four men.
The bail order was not challenged by either the NIA or the Delhi Police Special Cell.
“These boys are educated and come from humble homes. Before this incident, they had never even seen the inside of a police station. Now, I don’t even want to bother them because it is a reminder of those grim days,” the four’s lawyer Mustafa told ThePrint.
(Edited by Amrtansh Arora)
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