The National Investigation Agency has reportedly written to the state government asking them to transfer the alleged “Hubli terror module” case to them for investigation as it may have national and international ramifications, said an official source. A team of NIA officers came to Bengaluru last month and interrogated the 14 accused arrested by the Central Crime Branch of the city police, the Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra police from Bengaluru, Hubli, Hyderabad and Nanded for their alleged involvement in planning targeted killings of some prominent politicians of the Bharatiya Janata Party and pro-BJP journalists at the alleged behest of their handlers in Saudi Arabia and Pakistan.
Even as the family members of the accused protest that the suspects are innocent, it is learnt that the NIA will take over the investigation soon after the state gives the green signal. The accused – all educated and professionally well-placed Muslim youth, were arrested under various sections of the Indian Penal Code, the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act and the Arms Act and were last week remanded to judicial custody till October 11. Barring Mohammed Akram from Nanded, who has been taken by the Maharashtra Anti-Terrorist Squad after they obtained his body warrant from the court, the rest are lodged in the Central Prison at Parapanna Agrahara.