Gujarat ATS makes arrest, crime branch tells court to let man go

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The anti-terrorism squad had arrested Nasir last month for allegedly attending terror training camps in Kerala’s Wagamon and Gujarat’s Pavagadh. The arrest was based on a warrant pending in the name of another person named Nasir, alias Parvez Autowala, who was named in a statement submitted by one of the co-accused in the blasts case, Hafiz alias Adnan, on September 24, 2009.

However, C N Rajput, the Assistant Commissioner of Police (DCB), told the chief metropolitan magistrate that “during the custodial interrogation of the accused, no information about his involvement in the offence came out”. The DCB’s application also states that Nasir did not attend the camps at Wagamon in December 2007, as alleged.

The application states that the other Nasir — Nasir Ahmed Liyaqat Ali Patel of Azamnagar in Belgaum — who allegedly attended a terror camp, has already been chargesheeted by the National Investigation Agency (NIA). It clarifies that the NIA didn’t arrest Rangrez in the case.

According to police, this Nasir is also accused in Ahmedabad blasts case and lodged at Sabarmati Central Jail.

According to the application, Rangrez told police that he was not involved in any serial blasts but had been booked in a case of unlawful activity by Belgaum police. It states that the case was linked to Rangrez’s visits to the house and clinic of another local resident, Dr Munroz, for offering namaz and attending religious discourses.

Rangrez was jailed for nearly three years before being acquitted by a trial court in June 2011 along with co-accused Aizaz Khan, Tanvir Mulla, Iqbal Jakati and Imtiaz, among others. Rangrez’s lawyer M M Sheikh said he was now awaiting the Ahmedabad court order for his client to be released.