Acquitted in Sabarmati blast case, ex-AMU scholar still has seven cases against him  

Family members of Wani at their home in Baramulla district. Shuaib Masoodi

Gulzar Ahmed Wani, the terror suspect who was lodged in jail for 16 years before being acquitted in a terror case in a Barabanki court in Uttar Pradesh last week, still has seven cases pending against him in Nagpur and Kashmir. Since there no cases pending against him in UP, arrangements are being made to shift Wani to Nagpur from Lucknow district jail, where he was since 2010. On Saturday, the Barabanki court acquitted Wani, an Aligarh Muslim University research scholar, along with Abdul Mobeen in the Sabarmati Express blast case. Both were acquitted for lack of evidence.

“A letter requesting arrangement of a police force to send Gulzar Ahmed Wani to Nagpur has been sent to SSP Lucknow. As per jail records, there is no case pending against him in UP but there are seven cases pending against him — four in Nagpur and three in Jammu and Kashmir,” said Shashi Kant Mishra, Superintendent, Lucknow district jail. Jail records say there are four cases in Nagpur courts against Wani of 2001 and 2002. Two cases include charges under IPC section 153-A (promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, race, place of birth, residence, language, etc, and doing acts prejudicial to maintenance of harmony). The other two cases include charges under Section 153 A, Section 286 (negligent conduct with respect to explosive substance), 120B (conspiracy) and Explosive Substances Act.

The jail records also revealed three cases on charges of cheating and criminal intimidation against Wani in Baramulla, Kashmir. A resident of Baramulla, Wani was brought to Lucknow district jail from Kanpur district jail on November 1, 2010, after he was acquitted in three cases lodged against him in Kanpur. While in Lucknow jail, he was acquitted in three blast cases lodged against him in Lucknow, Agra and Barabanki.

In April 2014, Gulzar, Abdul Mobeen and Kaleem Akhtar were acquitted in the 2000 Lucknow blast case. The court acquitted them on benefit of doubt. Two years later, in April 2016, an Agra court acquitted Wani in a case of a blast inside a house in Agra. Three persons died in the blast. He was acquitted for want of evidence. Mohammad Shoaib, who represented Wani in the Lucknow blast case, said he was not aware of the details of the cases in Nagpur and Jammu and Kashmir. “No one had told me about cases against him in J&K,” said Shoaib.