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DETENTION OF
DEHRADUN MAN
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ANOTHER TERROR SCARE;
MAHA ATS COMES TOO
* In a separate chain of events, personnel from Maharashtra ATS arrived in Goa in connection with probe into ISIS threat to naval installations and tourist locations in Maharashtra and Goa
* Reports had it that deputy chief of IS' Indian wing, Khalid Ahmed Ali, had got in touch with a realty broker thereby hiring a house for Rs 10,000 at Margao
* Goa ATS, however, has maintained that its Maharashtra counterparts were conducting an independent investigation and that Goa ATS was not involved in the probe
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THE GOAN NETWORK
PANAJI: Personnel from Delhi Anti-Terrorist Squad (ATS) and National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Thursday joined the team of Anti Terrorist Squad (ATS) of Goa Police and Intelligence Bureau (IB) in interrogation of 44-year-old Dehradun native Sameer Sardana.
Sardanha, who is a chartered accountant by profession, was placed under preventive detention on the night of February 1 by Vasco railway police as per Section 41 of criminal procedure code after he was found wandering around suspiciously at Vasco railway station. This particular Section of CrPC allows the police to arrest a person against whom credible information has been received that he has committed a cognizable offence or that he is likely to commit such an offence.
So far, police have remained unsuccessful in verifying and ascertaining Sardana’s intentions and his alleged links with terror outfits even on the third day of his remand at crime branch lock up in Ribandar. With Sardana refusing to cooperate with the police, questioning continued under the supervision of Superintendent of Police (ATS and special branch) Priyanka Kashyap.
Meanwhile, his family including his father Major General (retired) KN Sardana and brother, who is a professor Delhi, have been contacted by the investigating officers.
Cyber crime police were roped in verify the contents of Sardana’s laptop and some CDs found in his possession at the time of arrest and have succeeded in cracking the password of the laptop as Sardana claimed to have forgotten it.
Letters and emails found in the laptop indicate that he had collected elaborate information and details of bomb blasts which have occurred in the country.
Apart from the laptop and CDs, Sardana also carried five Indian passports and seven mobile handsets, sources informed. All his passports carried stamps of various countries, confirming the input that he has travelled far and wide over the years.
ATS has also seized his luggage comprising two travel bags, the contents of which were examined on Thursday revealing no incriminating material.
Although the police have enough ground to believe that Sardana was radicalized through the internet, his links with extremist elements and organizations have yet to be established.
