Red Fort Blast: Delhi court extends accused doctor's judicial custody by 13 days

New Delhi: A Delhi court on Saturday remanded Dr Bilal Naseer Malla to judicial custody for 13 days, until January 16. The accused was arrested in connection with the Red Fort blast case on November 10.

The National Investigation Agency (NIA) produced him at the Patiala House Court amid tight security on Saturday, upon the expiry of his 8-day NIA custody granted on December 26, news agency PTI reported.

Mediapersons were barred from covering the proceedings.

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The accused was produced before Principal District and Sessions Judge Anju Bajaj Chandna, who sent him to judicial custody till January 16.

NIA arrested the accused in Delhi on December 9 and termed him a key accused in the conspiracy.

According to the NIA probe, he knowingly provided logistical support to the accused doctor, the suicide bomber who was driving the explosive-laden i20 car that blew up outside the Red Fort on November 10, killing 15 people.

He is also accused of destruction of evidence related to the terrorist attack, the agency said on December 9.

The NIA has arrested nine people in the case so far, including three doctors - Muzammil Ganaie, Adeel Rather and Shaheen Sayeed - and a religious preacher named Maulvi Irfan Ahmed Wagay.

Medical Dialogues had earlier reported that a Delhi court on Friday remanded three doctors and a preacher arrested in connection with the November 10 Red Fort blast case to 12 days of judicial custody, officials said.

The accused — Dr Muzammil Ganai, Dr Adeel Rather, Dr Shaheena Saeed, and Maulvi Irfan Ahmed Wagay — were produced before Principal and Sessions Judge Anju Bajaj Chandna at Patiala House Courts after the expiry of their four-day custody with the National Investigation Agency (NIA), granted on December 8.

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