Hany Babu’s custody extended till August 7

A special court on Tuesday extended the remand of Delhi University professor Hany Babu (54) till August 7. Professor Babu has been arrested in connection with the Elgar Parishad case.

The National Investigation Agency (NIA) last week had arrested Babu for his alleged involvement in the case and for allegedly having links with the Communist Party of India (Moist).

The special court had last week remanded him in NIA custody till August 4. As his custody ended on Tuesday, he was produced before the court by the probe agency.

Seeking his custody further, the NIA informed the court that some 1.26 lakh e-mails have been recovered and they need to be scrutinised. His social media accounts, which were used for communicating with other accused persons, suspects and sympathisers of CPI (Maoists) also need to be scrutinised, the agency said.

The NIA further said investigations revealed that Hany was in contact with other arrested accused and they were involved in raising funds for Maoists released from prison, and further probe in this regard was underway. It came to light during the probe that a conspiracy was hatched by the accused persons, who promoted enmity between various caste groups. It led to violence, loss of life and statewide agitation, the NIA said.

After hearing the probe agency’s submission, special court judge R.R. Bhosale granted the accused’s custody to NIA for three more days.