AMU former scholar exonerated in nine terror cases, one pending

In one of the 11 cases, Bani was convicted for 10 years for allegedly carrying explosives to trigger a blast in Delhi. However, records show the Delhi High Court had suspended his sentence. The only case now pending against him is that of a blast that had occurred at Sabarmati Express train in UP’s Barabanki district in 2000. Nine persons had died in the blast.

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On Monday, Bani was acquitted in a 2000 case, in which an explosion had occurred in a house in Agra’s Sadar Bazar, leading to the death of three persons.

Bani was pursuing PhD in Arabic from AMU when Delhi Police arrested him from the national capital on July 30, 2001. The arrest was made in connection with explosives recovered in Delhi. The police had then claimed Bani to be a Hizbul operative. This was a few months before then BJP-led NDA government banned Student Islamic Movement of India (SIMI). Later, Bani was booked in 10 other terror cases registered in UP, Delhi and Maharashtra.

Bani, the son of retired government employee Ghulam Mohammad, has three brothers and sisters each. After completing his studies at Baramullah, he had come to Uttar Pradesh and completed his graduation and postgraduation from AMU. He was pursuing PhD when he was arrested.

Government counsel in Agra, Satish Kumar Sharma, told The Indian Express: “Additional District and Session Judge Ajit Singh acquitted Gulzar Ahmed Bani for want of evidence in the blast case related to 2000… Six prosecution witnesses were examined during the trial and one of them had turned hostile.” He added that the other accused — Syed Abdul Mobeen, a former AMU student and Maroof, a Aligarh resident — had already been acquitted in the case in 2005.

According to the prosecution, the police chargesheet had alleged that the Agra blast was executed jointly by SIMI and Hizbul. It had claimed that Bani, who was operating under fake names, was with Hizbul and working with SIMI.

Agra District Government Counsel Shishu Pal Yadav said they will file an appeal against the district and session court order.

The case dates back to August 9, 2000 when a bomb exploded at the first floor of one Khaleef’s house at Agra’s Sadar Bazaar. Khaleef’s three tenants — Sajid, Waqar and Hafeez, all residents of Aligarh — were present in the room and died in the blast. While searching the room, police had claimed to have recovered literature and pamphlets of SIMI.

Following this, Mobeen and Maroof were arrested. Police had then claimed that during interrogation, Mobeen had taken Bani’s name.

Bani was arrested from Delhi and reportedly confessed to his involvement in terror conspiracies, including the one in Agra.

In UP, Bani was also booked in three cases in Kanpur and one in Lucknow. On August 15, 2000, a blast had taken place at Sahkarita Bhawan in Lucknow’s Hazratganj. No one was injured. Bani has been acquitted in all four cases.

The trial in the Sabarmati Express case is still pending in a Barabanki court, said Bani’s lawyer Prabhat Singh. “In all, there are four accused in the case. While the court had given life imprisonment to one, the judgment on three others is yet to come,” he added.

Meanwhile, Bani has moved Supreme Court seeking bail in the Barabanki case. “Notices have been issued to the state of UP… It will come up for hearing on April 25,” said Irshad Hanif, Bani’s lawyer in SC.

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