Hyderabad: The Telangana High Court has upheld the permission granted under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) for prosecution in connection with alleged unlawful activities in Nizamabad.

Police had arrested several individuals on information about their involvement in anti-national activities and registered cases, which were later transferred to the National Investigation Agency (NIA) by the Centre.

Charge sheets against 36

After its probe, the NIA filed two charge sheets against 36 accused.

Prime accused Abdul Khader, along with A5 Sheikh Shadulla and A24 Mohammed Imran, challenged the Centre’s sanction for prosecution under UAPA, arguing that the approval was granted without proper verification of records.

Their appeal was earlier dismissed by the NIA court. The accused then moved the Telangana High Court seeking relief.

A division bench comprising Justice K Lakshman and Justice BR Madhusudhan Rao, after hearing the case, ruled that the sanction was valid.

The court noted that the investigative agency had submitted charge sheets and witness statements to the Centre, which were examined by an independent committee before recommending sanction.

It further held that courts cannot interfere in the sanctioning process at the stage of filing charge sheets. Upholding the lower court’s order, the bench dismissed the petitions filed by the accused.