BY MEGHNA YELLURU A special MCOCA court on Friday discharged Abdul Mateen Damda, an alleged financier of the 13/7 blast, after the ATS told the court that there was lack of evidence against him. “The investigating officer prays for discharging the accused under the provisions of the CrPC Act, as evidence collected against him during the course of investigation were not sufficient to submit a chargesheet against him,” the court observed. Special judge Y D Shinde maintained that Damda was discharged under Section 169 (release of accused when evidence deficient) of the CrPC, and directed the Arthur Road jail superintendent to release Damda, if not required in any another case. According to defence lawyer Sharif Shaikh, Damda was not directly involved in the matter. “It is not even the case of the prosecution that Damda was a member of the conspiracy or has taken any active part in it,” Shaikh had said. Moreover, Shaikh maintained that Damda “was only doing his business and was unaware of the use of the money transacted”. A native of Bhatkal in Karnataka, Damda was believed to have supplied Rs 10 lakh to alleged IM co-founder Yasin Bhatkal through hawala channels to carry out the attacks, ATS said. The 50-year-old Dubai resident has remained in custody for over two months, after he was detained by the ATS from the Goa airport on July 15. Bomb blasts at Opera House, Zaveri Bazaar and Dadar on July 13, 2011, killed 27 people and injured 127. meghna.yelluru@expressindia.com
