Belagavi(Karnataka): NIA officials have taken into custody jailed Lashkar-e-Taiba operative Afsar Pasha from the Hindalaga Jail in Belagavi in connection with the case of threatening the Union Minister Nitin Gadkari. The accused Jayesh Pujari, who is currently in Nagpur jail, had earlier threatened him when he was a prisoner in Hindalaga jail. The militant Afsar Pasha has been taken into custody on charges of incitement to intimidation, NIA sources said.
Officers of the National Investigation Agency, who arrived at Hindalaga Jail on Saturday, interrogated Afsar Pasha for the whole day. Later, Pasha was taken to Nagpur, Maharashtra on a special flight for further questioning, NIA sources said. Three days ago, the Maharashtra Police visited the Hindalaga Jail and inspected it in view of the fact that the charge sheet was to be submitted to the court in connection with Jayesh Pujari's threat case.
Following it, the NIA officials arrived and arrested Afsar Fasha on suspicion of having links with terrorists in the threat case. Jayesh Pujari, the accused who threatened Union Minister Nitin Gadkari, is currently at Nagpur central jail. The case relates to two alleged extortion calls made to Union Minister Nitin Gadkari's office by the accused on January 14 and March 21 this year.
In the threat calls, the accused are said to have demanded extortion money from the union minister. Following the threat calls, the union minister lodged a complaint with the Maharashtra Police. Following the complaint, the accused Pujari was arrested and brought to Nagpur in ending March. Afsar Pasha was lodged in Belagavi Jail on charges of carrying out bomb blasts in Dhaka, Bangladesh in 2003 and Bengaluru in 2008.
