NEW DELHI, Mar 19:
Observing that criminal conspiracy is hatched in secrecy, a Delhi court has granted the NIA 11-day custody of six Ukrainians and one US national accused of training Myanmar-based Ethnics Armed Groups (EAGs), known to support insurgent groups in India.
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The accused had allegedly infiltrated into India from Myanmar via the Mizoram border before being intercepted at various domestic airports, officials said.
Special Judge Prashant Sharma, on Monday (March 16), took note of the submission by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) that it needed to interrogate the accused to unearth the larger conspiracy.
The agency stated that quizzing the accused and analysis of data on devices recovered from them was necessary to obtain further evidence, trace the mastermind and source of funding, ascertain the route taken by them and apprehend their unknown associates.
Noting that the FIR is not an encyclopedia and the allegations cannot be read in piecemeal, the judge said, “No doubt the FIR in question talks about the accused persons travelling to Mizoram, which is a prohibited area, without permission, and thereafter crossing over to Myanmar illegally, but it also mentions the accused persons link with ethnic armed groups, supporting certain proscribed Indian insurgent groups by supplying weapons, terrorist hardware and training.”
“Ordinarily, courts are not supposed to interfere with the investigation, unless the situation is otherwise… procedural laws are handmaid to justice,” the judge said, adding that, “Criminal conspiracy is hatched in secrecy and not in broad daylight.”
The special judge sent US citizen Matthew Aaron Van Dyke and Ukraine nationals Hurba Petro, Slyviak Taras, Ivan Sukmanovskyi, Stefankiv Marian, Honcharuk Maksim, and Kaminskyi Viktor to NIA’s custody till March 27 and ordered their medical examination after every 48 hours.
The court noted that the allegations levelled against the accused concerned national security and the country’s interests, and broadly attracted Section 18 (conspiracy) of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act.
“In such circumstances, the filing of the present application (seeking remand) has got basis. It cannot be dismissed on the threshold,” the court said.
It noted that in the remand application, the investigation officer (IO) cited the FIR, according to which, 14 Ukraine nationals had entered India on tourist visa on separate dates and flew to Guwahati and subsequently travelled to Mizoram without requisite documents such as Restricted Area Permit (RAP) and Protected Area Permit (PAP), before illegally entering Myanmar to conduct a pre-scheduled training for EAGs. (PTI)
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