Delhi HC blast: Judicial custody of Wasim Akram Malik extended

A Delhi Court today extended by two weeks the judicial custody of Wasim Akram Malik who has been arrested for his alleged role in the blast outside the Delhi High Court premises in September last year.

District Judge H S Sharma extended Malik's judicial custody till February 28 during an in-camera proceeding after the National Investigation Agency (NIA) said the probe in the case was going on, court sources said.

Handwriting specimen of Malik was taken by a magistrate on January 31 after the court had allowed the NIA's plea to secure it.

Malik, a student of Unani medicine in Bangladesh, has been dubbed by the NIA as a 'key link' in the conspiracy behind the September 7 blast outside gate number 5 of the Delhi High Court which killed 17 persons and injured over 90.

The court had yesterday extended the judicial custody of co-accused Amir Abbas Dev till February 27.

Dev, a Jammu and Kashmir native, was arrested by the NIA for allegedly sending terror e-mails to media groups after the September 7 blast last year.

A magistrate had earlier recorded Dev's statement under Section 164 of the CrPC in an in-camera proceeding.

A statement recorded by a magistrate under section 164 of the CrPC bars the accused from resiling from it on his depositions during trial and makes him liable for prosecution for perjury if he does so.