In the latest development, the Rouse Avenue Court on Saturday sent the accused arrested by the CBI under Operation Chakra-II to federal agency custody while the remaining 40 to judicial custody. During the court proceedings, the probe agency sought 7-day custody for three accused and custody for 40 others. CBI in its arguments said that the case is serious and has an impact all over the country and abroad.
The CBI said that it has strong evidence against the accused, but the mastermind has not been found yet. According to the probe agency, they have identified three people, through interrogation of whom the conspiracy of this entire crime can be reached. More recoveries can be made in this case.
CBI told the court that it has the recording of the conversation with foreign nationals. In this conversation, the method of execution of their crime has been discussed. The CBI suspects a transaction of USD 15 million. Based on these arguments, the CBI asserted that custody was necessary for investigation in this matter.
Arguments of lawyer of accused
The lawyer appearing on behalf of the accused argued that the probe agency had not presented the accused in the court within the 24-hour time limit from taking them into custody. The advocate also said that after obtaining the search warrant from the court, the call centre search operation of CBI started on July 24. Since the start of the search, all the accused were exempted from going outside. However, the CBI presented the accused before the court on July 26. Hence, the accused were in CBI custody from July 24 to 26. The lawyer argued that even though CBI shows the time of arrest of the accused as July 25 in the arrest memo, the custody had started at 11 am on July 24. (When CBI reached there).
Citing earlier decisions of the Supreme Court and High Courts, the lawyer alleged that the arrest of the accused in this case was completely illegal and unlawful and accused CBI of not following necessary legal procedures related to arrest and remand. He also told the court that the basis of the arrest was not told and a copy of the FIR and remand was also not provided. Since the accused was not produced in the court within the time limit of 24 hours in this case, the lawyer said, the arrest and remand should be cancelled.
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