New Delhi, Apr 24 (PTI) An accused in the Mundra drug haul case on Thursday informed the Supreme Court that his children were being bullied in the school after the NIA alleged the proceeds of crime in the case were used in terror attacks by Lashkar-e-Taiba.

A bench of Justices Surya Kant, Dipankar Datta and N Kotiswar Singh was informed by senior advocate A Sundaram, appearing for accused Harpreet Singh Talwar alias Kabir Talwar, that in the hearing a day earlier on his client’s bail, a NIA law officer referred to terror attacks on India including Pahalgam, where the alleged funds were used.

“My children are being bullied in school. They are now called terrorist’s children and had to be brought back. The submission was all over today’s newspapers and media. Without any basis the NIA made the statement in a NDPS case,” Sundaram said.

Justice Surya Kant tried to pacify Sundaram, who was to argue another matter and said, “No family member of any person, whosoever committed or did not commit any wrong, should suffer.” The judge told solicitor general Tushar Mehta, who was in the court to argue another matter, “Take care of that part. We don’t want to say anything more. You know very well what is to be done.” Sundaram said the report is in most of the newspapers and his clients’ children are getting threat calls as the drug haul is linked with Pahalgam terror attack.

Mehta said, “Our investigation has revealed that the proceeds of this sale have gone to Lashkar-e-Taiba for terror activities and this is what has been reported by the newspapers.” Justice Kant advised Sundaram to not read these kinds of news reports and said, “Just don’t read it. Forget it. I myself stay away from these kinds of news. I am not influenced by extraneous reasons.” Sundaram urged the bench to clarify the situation as the Pahalgam attack has nothing to do with this NDPS case.

“It’s all because of what was said in court. This is a NIA case and the agency has not even investigated it completely. Everybody should know how comments can affect innocents,” he submitted.

Mehta said if the comments of the law officer hurt anybody, she would tender an apology.

Justice Kant then said, “This is not the issue that arises for consideration, therefore let’s not unnecessarily drag it. Sometimes lawyers are carried away by emotions while arguing their cases. It happens on both sides”.

Sundram reiterated the claim by the law officer (additional solicitor general Aishwarya Bhati) was made without any material.

The court, however, observed Bhati did not oppose Talwar’s bail on this ground alone.

Bhati, who was in court, said the children should not suffer due to the arguments made in the court and if that was the case, law enforcement agencies could take care of it.

On Wednesday, the NIA opposed the bail plea of Talwar arrested in connection with the Rs 21,000 crore Mundra port drug haul case and said the proceeds of sale were used for funding terror activities of Lashkar-e-Taiba.

The bench reserved its verdict on the plea following arguments.

Talwar ran popular clubs in the national capital and was arrested by the agency in August, 2022, in what is termed as the biggest drug haul in the country.

“These are front people of the organisation but the blood of innocent people who lost their lives in terror attacks is also on their hands,” Bhati, appearing for the NIA had said.

On September 12, 2021, some containers arrived at Mundra Port from Afghanistan via Iran, filled with bags full of semi-processed talc stones.

Based on intelligence inputs, the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence checked the containers on September 13, 2021 and some of the bags were found to contain heroin, eventually leading to the recovery of 2988.21 kilogram of heroin worth Rs 21,000 crore. PTI MNL MNL AMK AMK