2002 Akshardham temple attack: Ahmedabad court grants bail to ‘prime conspirator’ Yasin Bhat

Bhat’s lawyer told the court of special designated Judge MK Dave that the accused was arrested at a belated stage and much later to the Supreme Court’s judgment acquitting six accused persons in May 2014.

A special POTA court in Ahmedabad on Wednesday granted bail to the alleged prime conspirator of the 2002 Akshardham Temple attack, Yasin Bhat. He had been arrested by the Gujarat Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) on July 26 from Jammu and Kashmir. Bhat’s lawyer told the court of special designated Judge MK Dave that the accused was arrested at a belated stage and much later to the Supreme Court’s judgment acquitting six accused persons in May 2014.

The special POTA court had acquitted two more accused subsequent to the acquittal by the Supreme Court.
Bhat made a case to be granted relief on the grounds of parity. His lawyer ID Pathan told the court that similarly situated co-accused persons in the case — Abdulrashid Sulemanbhai Ajmeri and Mohammad Farooq Mohammad Hanif Shaikh – both of whom were also belatedly arrested, were granted bail in December 2017 and in January this year by the special POTA judge.

Another ground given was that consequent to Bhat’s arrest, there has been no discovery or recovery of any incriminating material, thereby not necessitating a pre- trial detention of Bhat.

The public prosecutor conceded that the principal perpetrators of the offence were given a clean chit by the apex court and did not oppose the submissions made by Bhat.

To this effect, the court granted Bhat bail and directed him to not leave Ahmedabad city limits without the permission of the court.

Bhat has been lodged at Sabarmati Central jail here in judicial custody since July 27, based on the 2002 FIR that charged him conspiracy and murder, among other charges under sections of the Indian Penal Code, Arms Act, Explosive Substances Act, Prevention of Terrorism Act (POTA) and Bombay Police Act.

Bhat had moved the court for bail under provisions of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC) and POTA.

Two armed terrorists attacked Akshardham Temple in Gandhinagar on September 24, 2002, killing 33 people, including a National Security Guard (NSG) commando and two Gujarat police officers, and injuring 80 persons.

The two terrorists identified as Ashraf Ali Mohammed Farooq and Murtaza Hafiz Yasin, were gunned down by NSG commandos.

Source: Read Full Article