Software Engineer Held By ATS, Remanded In Judicial Custody Over Terror Links

Software engineer Zubair Hangargekar, arrested for alleged ties to Al Qaeda and radicalization activities, was remanded to judicial custody until November 28 by a Pune court.

The court remanded Hangargekar to judicial custody after the ATS pressed for it while reserving the rights of his police custody.

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Pune, Nov 14 (PTI) A special court in Pune on Friday remanded in judicial custody till November 28 software engineer Zubair Hangargekar, who was arrested by Maharashtra ATS for alleged links with banned outfits such as Al Qaeda and Al Qaeda in the Indian Subcontinent as well as suspected involvement in radicalisation activities.

The court remanded Hangargekar to judicial custody after the ATS pressed for it while reserving the rights of his police custody.

ATS earlier told the court that, during searches, an old phone belonging to Hangargekar was recovered from one person.

"During the analysis of the contact list of the phone, five international phone numbers were found saved, comprising one from Pakistan, two from Saudi Arabia, and one each from Kuwait and Oman. The call detail records of the phone, however, do not show any calls to these saved numbers," the ATS had said.

The prosecution told the court that Hangargekar was questioned about the numbers, including one from Pakistan, but he had claimed he was unable to recall anything related to them.

The prosecution argued that it was crucial to extract information about the saved contact numbers and analyse the data retrieved from the accused's phone. But since this process would take additional time, the accused should be remanded to judicial custody, while the ATS reserved its right to seek the remaining 11 days of police custody if required, the agency told court.

Earlier this month, the ATS had told a Pune court that Hangargekar allegedly used to deliver religious discourses "aggressively" in the city's Kondhwa area.

During a house search there, the ATS seized mobile phones containing deleted PDF files titled 'Al Qaeda in the Indian Subcontinent (AQIS) and All Its Manifestations', it had said.

They also recovered an Urdu translation of a speech delivered by the late Al-Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden on Eid-ul-Fitr.

In addition, a magazine titled 'Inspire' was found, containing photographs of AK-47 training at the OSG Gun School and documents detailing the procedure to make an IED using acetone peroxide from an OSG bomb school, it told the court. PTI SPK BNM

(This report has been published as part of the auto-generated syndicate wire feed. Apart from the headline, no editing has been done in the copy by ABP Live.)