Red Fort blast: Delhi court sends accused Amir Rashid Ali to 10-day NIA custody

New Delhi, Nov 17 (PTI) A Delhi court on Monday sent Red Fort car bomb blast accused Amir Rashid Ali to 10-day NIA custody.

Ali was produced before the New Delhi district Principal District and Sessions Judge, Anju Bajaj Chandna, in Patiala House courts complex amid tight security around 11.30 am.

Mediapersons were not allowed to enter the court as the proceedings were held in camera.

Court sources said Judge Chandna allowed the agency's plea to interrogate Ali in its custody for 10 days.

"Personnel from the Delhi Police and the Rapid Action Force (RAF) were deployed in and around the court complex," said a police officer, adding that anti-riot gear-equipped teams were on standby to prevent any untoward incident.

In a major breakthrough in the case on Sunday, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) arrested Ali, a resident of Kashmir, who had allegedly conspired with "suicide bomber" Dr Umar Un Nabi to carry out the terror attack.

The federal agency said Ali, in whose name the car involved in the blast was registered, had been arrested in the national capital.

Investigations by the probe agency had revealed that the accused, a resident of Samboora in Jammu and Kashmir's Pampore, had conspired with the "suicide bomber", Nabi, to unleash the terror attack.

Ali had come to Delhi to allegedly facilitate the purchase of the car, which was eventually used as a "vehicle-borne Improvised Explosive Device (IED)" to trigger the blast, the NIA said.

Thirteen people were killed and several were injured after an explosives-laden car exploded near the Red Fort in the national capital on November 10.

Nabi, a resident of Jammu and Kashmir's Pulwama, was driving the car. He had links with a "white-collar" terror module that was busted with the recovery of explosives mainly from Faridabad in Haryana. PTI