Srinagar- A Delhi court on Friday extended by seven days the National Investigation Agency (NIA) custody of Dr Bilal Naseer Malla, an accused in the Red Fort blast case.

The court also remanded Soyab, a Faridabad resident accused of harbouring Red Fort bomber Umar-un-Nabi, to judicial custody for five days.

The NIA produced both the accused before the Patiala House Court under tight security after the expiry of their earlier four-day NIA custody granted on December 15. Media persons were barred from covering the proceedings.

The accused were produced before Principal and Sessions Judge Anju Bajaj Chandna, who allowed the probe agency to continue custodial interrogation of Dr Malla for seven more days. Soyab was sent to judicial custody till December 24.

Earlier, an NIA spokesperson said Soyab, a resident of Dhauj in Haryana’s Faridabad district, was arrested for allegedly providing logistical support to Umar-un-Nabi ahead of the terror bomb blast in Delhi.

Dr Bilal Naseer Malla was arrested in Delhi on December 9 and has been described by the agency as a key accused in the conspiracy. According to the NIA, he had knowingly harboured Umar-un-Nabi by providing logistical assistance and is also accused of destroying evidence linked to the terrorist attack.

So far, the NIA has arrested nine accused in the case. Those held include doctors Dr Muzammil Ganaie, Dr Adeel Rather, and Dr Shaheen Sayeed, along with religious preacher Maulvi Irfan. Amir Rashid Ali and Jasir Bilal Wani, alias Danish, have also been arrested.

On December 18, the agency arrested the ninth accused, Yasir Ahmad Dar, a resident of Jammu and Kashmir and allegedly a close associate of Umar-un-Nabi. The NIA has claimed that Dar was an active participant in the conspiracy and had taken an oath to carry out self-sacrificial operations.

Umar-un-Nabi was driving an explosive-laden i20 car that detonated outside the Red Fort on November 10.