Delhi’s Patiala House Court on Wednesday issued a notice on a petition filed by Tawwur Rana, a prominent accused in the 26/11 conspiracy case, seeking permission to negotiate with his family under the jail rules.
Special NIA Judge Chandrajit Singh directed the NIA to reply on the application and sought a report from Tihar Jail officials. Rana will remain in judicial custody till 6 June, the next hearing will be held on 4 June.
Earlier, the court had dismissed his plea to talk to his family over phone while in custody of NIA. His lawyer Piyush Sachdeva argued that as a foreign national, Rana has a fundamental right to contact his family, who is concerned about his goodness in custody.
However, the NIA opposed the request, citing the ongoing investigation and the risk of exposing the sensitive information.
Recently, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) collected voice and handwriting samples from Rana, which was extradited from the United States. He provided samples of handwriting by writing various alphabets and numerical letters.
Advocate Piyush Sachdeva confirmed that Rana fully followed the court’s directive to present these samples.
The Special NIA court has recently allowed the NIA to receive voice and handwriting samples from 64 -year -old Canadian businessman Rana of Pakistani origin. He was extradited from the United States in connection with his alleged role in the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks.
After his extradition, he was kept in NIA custody in New Delhi, where investigators are investigating his suspicious relations with criminals of the attack.
More than 170 people lost their lives and hundreds of people were injured in 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks by Pakistan-based terrorist organization Lashkar-e-Taiba. Rana’s extradition and inquiry attack is part of India’s ongoing efforts to bring all the conspirators into the dock of justice.
