REDAUL HUSSAIN KHAN versus NATIONAL INVESTIGATION AGENCY

Citation: [2009] 15 S.C.R. 1038 · Decided: 19-11-2009 · Supreme Court of India · Bench: ALTAMAS KABIR, CYRIAC JOSEPH · Disposal: Dismissed

Judgment (excerpt)

[2009] 15 (ADDL.) S.C.R. 1038 
A 
REDAUL HUSSAIN KHAN 
v. 
NATIONAL INVESTIGATION AGENCY 
(SLP (Crl.) No.7343 of 2009) 
NOVEMBER 19, 2009 
B 
[ALTAMAS KABIR AND CYRIAC JOSEPH, JJ.] 
BAIL: 
... 
UNLAWFUL ACTIVITIES (PREVENTION) ACT, 1967: 
c 
ss.43-D(2)(b ), 3, 13, 15 and 17 - 'Terrorist act' - Petitioner 
arrested on the allegations that they were sending money to 
an extremist organization - Said organization later declared 
as "unlawful association" - Pleas for granting statutory bail for 
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non-completion of investigation within prescribed time, and that 
the organization concerned was declared an "unlawful 
association" much later than the arrest of the petitioner and that 
..... 
the money recovered from him belonged to his mother - Held: 
Cannot be sustained - It cannot be said that merely because 
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the organization concerned had not been declared as an 
"unlawful association" when the petitioner was arrested, the said 
organization could not have indulged in terrorist acts or that 
petitioner could not have had knowledge of such activities -
Prayer for grant of statutory bail has to be rejected since the 
Sessions Judge (Special Court) had the jurisdiction to extend 
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the time for completion of investigation - As regards as the 
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recovery of money from the petitioner's custody, it would require 
further investigation into the allegations made not only against 
the petitioner but the other accused persons as well - Code of 
Criminal Procedure, 1973 - s.167. 
G 
CRIMINAL APPELLATE JURISDICTION : SLP (Criminal) 
Nos. 7343 of 2009. 
From the Judgment & Order dated 19.09.2009 of the High 
Court of Gauhati at Guwahati in Crl. A. No.148 of 2009. 
H 
1038 
{ 
REDAUL HUSSAIN KHAN v. NATIONAL 
INVESTIGATION AGENCY 
WITH 
SLP (Crl.) No. 7399 of 2009. 
1039 
Pradip Ghosh, Altaf Ahmed, Azim H. Laskar, Sachin Das, 
Abhijit Sengupta, Rana Mukherjee, Vikash Kar Gupta, Vishal 
A 
Arun, for the Appellant. 
B 
H.P. Rawal, ASG, Chinmoy Pradip Sharma, Mihir 
Chatterjee, S.N. Terdal, for the Respondent. 
The following Order of the Court was delivered 
ORDER 
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1. The petitioner herein was arrested on 31st May, 2009, 
along with one Mohit Hojai and on the same day they were 
produced before the Chief Judicial Magistrate, Kamrup, at 
Guwahati. In the forwarding report it was indicated that the o 
ground for arresting the petitioner was that during interrogation 
of Mo hit Hojai, who was the Chief Executive Member of the North 
Cachar Hills Autonomous Council, had disclosed that he was 
sending an amount of Rs.1 crore to an organization known as 
DHD(J), an extremist organization, to enable it to purchase arms 
E 
and ammunitions. It was indicated that Mohit Hojai had also 
disclosed that he had collected Rs.30 lakhs from the petitioner 
under different schemes. 
2. On the prayer made on behalf of the investigating agency, 
the Chief Judicial Magistrate, Kamrup, sent the petitioner to 
F 
police custody on 31st May, 2009. After the expiry of the said 
period of two days, a prayer was made for extension of police 
custody which was allowed for a further period of two days by 
the learned Magistrate by his order dated 2nd June, 2009. 
Further prayer for custodial interrogation was rejected by the G 
Chief Judicial Magistrate, Kamrup, who, however, granted 
permission to the investigating officer to interrogate the petitioner 
in the Central Jail, Kamrup, Guwahati. On the same day, the 
learned Magistrate also rejected the petitivner's prayer for grant 
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1040 SUPREME COURT REPORTS (2009] 15 (ADDL.) S.C.R. 
A 
of bail. 
3. While the investigation was pending with the State Police, 
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the National Investigating Agency constituted under the National 
Investigation Agency Act, 2008 (hereinafter referred to as "the 
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2008 Act") took over the investigation on 5th June, 2009 and the 
case was renumbered as N.l.A. Case No.1of2009. A separate 
First Information Report was also filed by the National 
Investigating Agency (hereinafter referred to as "NIA) in the Court 
of the Chief Judicial Magistrate, Kamrup. On 6th June, 2009, the 
c 
prayer made by NIA for further ten days' custody of the petitioner 
was allowed by the learned Magistrate. A similar prayer made 
on 15th June, 2009, was rejected on 29th June, 2009. The· 
learned Magistrate also rejected the bail application filed on 
behalf of the petitioner along with the co-accused. Immediately 
thereafter, the petitioner filed a bail application before the 
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Guwahati High Court a

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