Asif Ali ill, cops’ bid for custody fails

Hyderabad: The Central Crime Station police was denied custody of espionage case second accused Asif Ali by the Chanchalguda jail authorities as he was ill. Jail officials told the police that he was suffering from urinary infection, and he cannot be given to police custody till he becomes healthy. The accused, who deposited money in Army officer Patan Kumar Poddar’s account on behalf of a Pakistani spy, was brought from Uttar Pradesh on a Prisoner Transit warrant.

A criminal court in the city had granted the CCS police five days custody of Asif Ali for interrogation. CCS sources said the cops were expecting to extract more information about the Pakistani woman spy from Asif Ali. Meerut police had arrested Asif Ali following intelligence inputs and probe details of the espionage case in August. He was handed over to the Hyderabad police this month for investigation.

Army official Patan Kumar, who was arrested by the city police in an espionage case, had confessed that he had received Rs 75,000 in his bank account from a Pakistani spy. An official attached to the 151, MC/MF detachment of the Army at the Secunderabad Railway Station, Patan Kumar was arrested by the Hyderabad city police in the first week of August in a case under the Official Secrets Act for passing on classified information regarding the Indian Army to a suspected Pakistani agent.