ATS re-arrests Shahbaz Ahmed in Jaipur blasts case

Convicts in blasts case held for unexploded bomb

The Rajasthan Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) has re-arrested four persons, who were sentenced to death for the 2008 serial blasts in Jaipur, as well as Shahbaz Ahmed, 43, who was acquitted for want of evidence, in connection with the case registered for a bomb which was defused. All the five accused were remanded in the ATS custody for two days.

The case pertains to a bomb strapped to a bicycle parked in Chadpol Bazaar, which was defused by the police before it could explode on May 13, 2008. Eight other ammonium nitrate-based bombs went off at different locations, killing 71 persons and leaving about 200 injured.

The trial in eight cases registered by the police resulted in the conviction of four persons from Uttar Pradesh, but the case pertaining to the planting of unexploded bomb was not tried with the rest of the blast matters. The four persons who were awarded the death penalty are Mohammed Saif, Mohammed Sarwar Azmi, Saifur Rehman and Mohammed Salman.

Shahbaz, a resident of Lucknow who was the first one to be arrested three months after the blasts, was acquitted in all the eight cases. He was charged with sending an e-mail which claimed responsibility for the blasts on behalf of the Indian Mujahideen, but the court did not find evidence beyond doubt to connect him with the crime.

Vindictive, says PUCL

The People’s Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL) Rajasthan President Kavita Srivastava termed the move as ‘vindictive’ and questioned why the ATS had not investigated the case earlier. It also sought the intervention of Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot for Shahbaz’s release.

“Why was this case left out? Does it not show a vindictive and malicious attitude to implicate a person held innocent by the court?” said PUCL-Rajasthan president Kavita Srivastava, while alleging lack of transparency in the ATS.

Ms. Srivastava sought the intervention of Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot, who also holds the Home portfolio, to ensure immediate release of Shahbaz. She said the police had booked Shahbaz as an accused in the new case with the intention of preventing his release, adding that the PUCL would move the NHRC in the matter.

The ATS had claimed to have cracked the Jaipur blasts case after arresting Shahbaz from his computer and career consultancy centre in Aminabad locality of Lucknow. He was referred to as the mastermind of serial blasts in Jaipur and elsewhere till the controversial Batla House encounter took place in Delhi on September 19, 2008, and some alleged IM operatives were arrested in Mumbai and Pune.

The four persons convicted and awarded the death sentence were apprehended by the police forces of other States in Delhi and different towns in U.P. Their custody was later obtained by the Rajasthan ATS.

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