With his seven-day remand coming to an end on January 8, Sameer Sardana, a native of Dehradun will be produced before Judicial Magistrate First Class (JMFC), Vasco on Monday, where the police are likely to make a strong case for extension of his remand under Section 41 of criminal procedure code. Failing which, Sardana could walk free.
After he was found wandering around suspiciously at Vasco railway station, Sardana (44) was detained by Anti Terrorist Squad (ATS) of Goa Police on the night of February 1 and was placed under preventive detention by Vasco railway police as per Section 41 of criminal procedure code.
Sardana was produced before the judge of JMFC Vasco on January 2 and was remanded to seven days police custody. He was shifted to Crime Branch lock up in Ribandar on January 3 where he has been under detention ever since.
During Sardana’s interrogation and search of his luggage, ATS recovered five original passports, seven mobile handsets and a laptop along with some CD’s. His passports revealed that he has travelled far and wide over the last eight years and has made several trips to Islamic countries. He has also been a frequent visitor to Goa.
Hence, cyber crime personnel were roped in to probe the contents of Sardanha’s laptop and succeeded in accessing emails and letters which revealed that Sardana had gathered a lot of data on bomb blasts which occurred in the past across the country.
Further, it came to light that although he was born a Hindu, he now practices Islam bringing in the possible angle of online radicalization.
Police have written to the passport office seeking verification and authentication of passports recovered from his luggage. Response from passport officer, which may be presented before Vasco JMFC, is likely to throw more light on the puzzle.
Cyber crime police also revealed that he had gathered data on making Improvised Explosive Device (IED) and on launching attacks on defence installations. This led the investigating authorities to suspect that Sardana could be a member of an extremist sleeper cell.
Meanwhile, personnel from National Investigation Agency (NIA) and Intelligence Bureau (IB) concluded their investigation on January 6. On the same day, Sardana was taken to Institute of Psychiatry and Human Behavior (IPHB), Bambolim, where he was declared as being mentally stable and normal.
Entire probe was thrown off balance by elusive responses offered by Sardana and complete lack of cooperation on his behalf, forcing the authorities to leave no stone unturned in establishing his intentions. Yet, the fact remains that so far the authorities do not appear to have anything concrete against the chartered accountant from Dehradun.
