Israel embassy blast: Nothing to suggest 4 students from Ladakh have terror links, says Delhi court

NEW DELHI: A Delhi court granted bail to four students from Ladakh on Thursday. They had been arrested in connection with a blast near the Israel embassy in January. The court said there was nothing against the students that suggested they were linked with any terrorist organisation or were a threat to society.
The students had been arrested from Kargil and brought to Delhi on transit remand in connection with the improvised explosive device blast outside the Israeli embassy on January 29.
Chief metropolitan magistrate Dr Pankaj Sharma granted relief to Nazir Hussain, 26, Zulfikar Ali Wazir, 25, Aiaz Hussain, 28 and Muzammil Hussain, 25, on a bail bond of Rs 50,000 with one surety of the same amount each. The court said nothing in the report submitted by police contained any incriminating material against the accused.
Police had alleged that this was a case of conspiracy hatched by Islamic outfits and the four were to carry out terrorist attacks in Delhi and other parts of India, targeting western as well as Israeli establishment in India. The students' counsel argued that Wazir, Ajaz and Muzammil were graduates and were in Delhi to prepare for competitive exams while Nazir was at home in Kargil for the last one and half years. The lawyer added that no incriminating content had been found in the posts allegedly uploaded by the men on social media.
The court noted that the report filed by the investigating officer indicated that one of the accused used to post highly objectionable material on his Twitter account against Israel, US and other western countries and his Twitter account was followed by Wazir. "Nothing in the police report suggests any of the accused persons was posting any objectionable material against India,” the court said. “The IO has recovered all the electronic gadgets, including mobiles, laptops and pen drive holding voluminous data that is being analysed. The antecedents of all the accused persons are blemish free and they are students.”
In its order, the court also said, “Nothing incriminating has been put forth by the IO which suggests that these accused persons have links with any terrorist organisation and they are a threat to society." It further noted that as per the IO’s report, Nazir was a supporter of Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps of Iran and this was not a terrorist organisation.
The court said the accused had been cooperative during the investigation and surrendered all their electronic gadgets. “The IO is in possession of all the electronic devices and its analysis will take a long time. Accordingly, considering their age, antecedents and the fact that all the accused persons are students having roots in society and a fixed place of abode, in the backdrop of the fact that the IO has the custody of the relevant evidence, all the accused persons are ordered to be released on bail.”
It directed all the four students to drop a pin on Google Map to share their location with the IO and not to tamper with evidence. It also ordered them to surrender their passports to the cops and not to leave the country without the court’s permission.