Court extends judicial custody of suspected LeT operative Bahadur Ali till Jan 18

NEW DELHI: A special court today extended till January 18 the judicial custody (JC) of Bahadur Ali, a Pakistani national allegedly working for terror outfit Lashkar-e-Taiba.

According to court sources, Ali alias 'Saifullah' was produced from Tihar central jail during in-camera proceedings before District Judge Amar Nath who extended his JC.

NIA had cited Ali's confessional video to claim that the recent unrest in the Kashmir Valley had been orchestrated by Pakistan-based LeT. The unrest was triggered by the encounter killing of a militant leader.


The agency claimed that since summer this year, the banned outfit, with the "help of Pakistani forces deployed on the border", pushed heavily armed terrorists into India with the direction to mix with local people, create disturbance and attack police and security forces.

NIA had earlier told the court that along with his associates, Ali had planned terror attacks to "destabilise the security and sovereignty" of India.

A fourth-class dropout, Ali, who hails from Jahama village of Raiwind in Lahore, was arrested from village Yahama in Mawar area of Qalamabad, Handwara, in North Kashmir on July 25. The army had claimed to have recovered three AK-47 rifles, two pistols and Indian Rs 23,000 from his possession.

According to NIA, Ali was trained at a Lashkar camp in PoK to carry out various activities, including map reading and operating GPS devices.