Cops shouldn't have arrested my husband: Haneef's wife

New Delhi: The UK terror trail is getting murkier with the wife of Mohamed Haneef - the Indian doctor detained in Australia - said Haneef could have been interviewed by police while being allowed to work instead of being detained.

It’s been 10 days since Haneef was detained without charge even as the Australian Federal Police (AFP) continued their probe into his suspected links to failed bombings in London and Glasgow.

Haneef was on Wednesday allowed by the Australian authorities to speak to his wife Firdous Arshiya in Bangalore for the first time since he was taken into custody.

His counsel Peter Russo said that Haneef got in touch with his wife over telephone after the Indian consulate confirmed the phone number for security purposes.

"He got a call through this afternoon Russo said adding. He was fairly elated that he got to make the call, " PTI quoted Russo as saying.

Ashriya spoke with him from Bangalore, the first time since Haneef was detained at Brisbane Airport with a one-way ticket to India on July 2.

"I just inquired about his health obviously, and he inquired about the health of the family," she was quoted as saying by Australia daily The Australian.

Arshiya said her husband did not talk about the investigation into his involvement in the terror plot.

"He didn't say anything about all those things, he just talked about his health and said he'd come out soon," she said, according to The Australian.

Arshiya said she would have felt better if he had been doing his job at the hospital, adding "They could have done their inquiry there.

"They could have asked him not to leave Australia and he could've stayed there doing his job and then they could have done the inquiry," she said.

The Australian Police was expected to apply to hold Haneef at the Brisbane watch house for an extra five days. But the accused's lawyer Peter Russo said outside Brisbane Magistrates Court that the application had been delayed.

AFP representatives lodged an application for a five-day extension on Monday, but the magistrate hearing the case only agreed to a 48-hour interim order to allow them to compile their case.

Haneef, a registrar at the Gold Coast Hospital, has been in custody for the ninth day without charge. Legal experts have criticised his detention and have questioned whether the police are doing enough to clear him or charge him.

Sources told The Australian that Australia will have to request Indian help through a 'letter rogatory,' a mandatory provision for such help being sought by a sovereign country.

Once Australia submits the 'rogatory' to India through diplomatic channels, New Delhi would direct either the CBI or the Karnataka Police to coordinate with the AFP, the report said.

Defence Minister Brendan Nelson, currently on a visit to India, said he was aware of the situation.

"Police will follow protocols in dealing with the issue of Mohamed Haneef," Nelson said.

Nelson, however, said India and Australia needed better measures to exchange information and speed up trans-border criminal investigations.

"The two countries need to develop some sort of mutual arrangements which will allow us to expedite deliberation on investigations on this sort of issue in the future," Nelson said.