Kovai police granted five-day custody of IS sympathisers

The trio, Mohammed Hussain (30), Shajahan (27) and Sheik Shafiullah (28), had allegedly conspired to carry out terror attacks in temples and churches in the district. They were also charged for propagating the proscribed terrorist organisation’s ideology on social media, and also supported Zahran Hashim, the mastermind of the Easter Sunday blasts in Sri Lanka.

Following the blasts, the NIA searched the houses of a few suspects and arrested two persons for terrorist links. Thereafter, the Coimbatore police arrested Mohammed, Shajahan and Sheik. The police also reportedly seized laptops, pen drive and incriminating documents from their possession, and the accused were booked under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA) and remanded in judicial custody till June 28.

On Tuesday, the Coimbatore city police had submitted a petition to principal district judge R Shaktivel seeking eight-day custody for further interrogation of the accused.

As the case came up for hearing on Thursday, Kalaiselvan, the counsel for the trio opposed granting police custody. He argued that no incriminating documents were seized from their houses as claimed by the police. “Those books and materials seized by the police were all available online and in book stores. No offensive materials were seized. Also, the police have already held inquiries with them while in custody, and so there is no need for further interrogation,” he argued.

After hearing the arguments, the principal district judge granted the police five days’ custody of the three accused. The court also granted permission for the counsel to meet their clients once in two days.

Following this, the police took the three accused to an undisclosed location for further inquiries pertaining to the case.