Bombay High Court grants bail to German Bakery blast convict Mirza Himayat Baig
Mumbai: The Bombay High Court on Friday granted bail to German Bakery bomb blast convict Mirza Himayat Baig in the 2010 Nashik terror conspiracy case.
A division bench of Justices Revati Mohite-Dere and Gauri Godse granted bail to Baig on payment of Rs 1 lakh and two sureties. They have also been directed to report to the Nashik officer of the Anti-Terrorist Squad (ATS) on the second Saturday of every month. The court has also directed him not to leave the jurisdiction of Nashik court.
Baig had filed an appeal against the order of the special court
The high court was hearing an appeal filed by Baig challenging the order of the special court rejecting his bail plea.
Baig is currently serving a life sentence in Nashik Central Jail for his involvement in the German Bakery bomb blast in Pune, which killed 17 people and injured at least 60.
Baig’s lawyer Mubeen Solkar had said that he has been in jail since his arrest by ATS 13 years ago. Subsequently, Maharashtra Police took him into custody in the alleged Nashik terror conspiracy case.
What is the matter?
Along with Beg, two other persons – Sheikh Lal Baba and Abu Jundal – were accused in the case. Jundal was also implicated in the 2008 Mumbai 26/11 terrorist attacks and is currently on trial. Solkar argued that Shaikh, who was arrested a month before Baig’s arrest, is allegedly the prime accused and the police have seized some substance from him, believed to be RDX.
According to ATS, the accused had planned to enter Nashik, but before they could carry out any terrorist activity, they were arrested.
Solkar said the entire prosecution case rested on the statements of two witnesses who studied with Baig. He claimed that there was a meeting in December 2006 where Baig allegedly instigated him to join Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT).
At that time, Lashkar-e-Taiba was not even a banned terrorist organization. Solkar argued that Lashkar had been declared a terrorist organization on December 31, 2008 itself. Therefore, the allegation of instigating someone to join LeT or Beg being a member of a banned organization cannot stand.
He further argued that the witnesses never went anywhere and were never actually admitted, Solkar said.
Additional public prosecutor Prajakta Shinde, opposing the bail plea, had said that Baig had sent some recruits to Pakistan. He told the court that 24 witnesses have been examined in the trial and 30 more witnesses are yet to be examined.
