New Delhi, Apr 1 The National Investigation Agency has informed a Delhi court that a US citizen and six Ukrainians are being investigated for a wide-ranging terror conspiracy which involves suspected links to ethnic rebel groups in India and Myanmar and imparting drone training to them.
The submissions were made before NIA Special judge Prashant Sharma, who allowed the federal anti-terror agency to quiz the foreigners in its custody for 10 more days on March 27 in the proceedings conducted at the NIA headquarters here.
They will be produced again on April 6 before the court.
"He (the NIA counsel) has submitted that at this stage of the matter, the possibility of accused persons linked with ethnic rebel groups in India cannot be ruled out. The fact that accused persons have travelled to neighbouring countries is another aspect worth to be appreciated by this court," the court noted.
The agency claimed that the accused, one US national and six Ukrainians, were allegedly involved in the commission of offences punishable under the stringent Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA), which deals with conspiracy to commit terrorist acts.
The NIA told the court that the investigation has revealed "various new facts" concerning the involvement of the foreign nationals in a conspiracy that spans across borders.
According to the agency, the accused had travelled through Mizoram to enter Myanmar, an aspect that is currently under intense scrutiny.
"The NIA has submitted that the investigation is pending, various new facts have revealed involvement of accused persons in the commission of offence punishable under Section 18 of UAPA," the order read.
The agency further said that the scope of the investigation is "very wide", covering not just the commission of acts but also the "advocacy, incitement, and preparation" of terrorist activities.
The NIA also emphasised the sensitivity of the case, noting that while the full details of the investigation could not be mentioned in the public application, the case diaries reflected the "sensitive information" gathered so far, including details of the infrastructure used by the accused while visiting India and beyond.
"The scope of the present investigation is very wide. NIA is investigating this matter with regard to the applicability of Section 18 of UAPA.
"Said provision talks about conspiracy to commit a terrorist act and also various offshoots of said crime by referring to abatement, preparation, incitement. Said provision also mandates that said aspects also cover cases of attempt or advocacy to commit said acts," the NIA counsel said.
To unearth the full extent of the conspiracy, the NIA said it is analysing data from mobile phones recovered from the accused, which have been sent to the Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (CERT-IN) for forensic examination.
"Subject to furnishing of said report, NIA would exercise its right to confront the data with accused persons for the purpose of unearthing the truth," the agency added.
The agency informed the court that its teams have already visited multiple states beyond Delhi as part of the probe.
It also clarified that the interrogation of the Ukrainian nationals was being conducted through a Russian interpreter, as five of the accused had stated they were well-versed in the language.
The defence counsel claimed that no drones were recovered from the accused.
"There is no proof that the accused persons had imparted training on the use of drones to any persons...,” the counsel told the court.
However, the court said it was in agreement with NIA that there are several questions that need investigation.
“Why had the accused persons come to India? Why did they travel to Myanmar? What was their objective in using drones? Did the accused persons use drones to impart training to any person? Whether any Indian or any member of a rebel ethnic group in India is linked with the accused persons, directly or indirectly? Such questions... need investigation.
"I am in agreement with NIA, based on the contents of case diaries, that the facts of this case are sensitive in nature,” the court said.
In the remand application on March 16, the investigation officer, citing the FIR, said that some Ukrainians had entered India on tourist visas on separate dates and flew to Guwahati, from where they travelled to Mizoram without obtaining the requisite documents, such as the Restricted Area Permit or Protected Area Permit.
Thereafter, these individuals illegally entered Myanmar to impart pre-scheduled training for Ethnic Armed Organisations (EAO) in that country, the officer had said.