Court asks NIA to respond to Majeed’s bail plea

The Bombay High Court on Thursday asked the National Investigation Agency (NIA) to respond to a petition filed by alleged IS recruit Areeb Majeed, seeking bail on technical grounds. A Division Bench of Justices RV More and VL Achliya asked the NIA to respond to Majeed’s plea and posted it for hearing on November 23. Advocate Mubin Solkar, appearing for Majeed, told the HC that the petition was filed in June and since then the NIA has not responded, despite time given to it. Majeed, a resident of Kalyan near Mumbai, along with three other men – Shaheen Tanki, Fahad Shaikh and Aman Tandel – was part of a pilgrim group from India to Iraq in May 2014, when they went missing. Majeed and the three others were suspected to have joined Syria-based terrorist group ISIS. Majeed, initially believed to have died, was later deported to India and subsequently arrested by NIA on November 28, 2014. In May 2015, the NIA filed a 8000-page charge-sheet against Majeed under Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA) and IPC for waging a war against a country friendly to India.