Suspected Al Badr man gets interim bail

The Delhi High Court on Friday granted interim bail for a month to one of the two alleged Al-Badr militants,who had approached it challenging a trial court’s order declining to discharge them on the basis of the CBI’s clean chit to them. Granting the relief to Irshad Ali on furnishing a bond of Rs 50,000 and two sureties of like amount,Justice Mool Chand Garg imposed certain conditions.The Court directed him not to leave the city without prior permission and asked him to report to the local SHO every Monday.

The Special Cell,the anti-terrorist unit of Delhi Police,which arrested Ali and Moarif Qamar,with the help of an Intelligence Bureau official in February 2006 for their alleged link with militant outfit,was left embarrassed after the CBI found nothing incriminiating against the two and termed them as “innocent” in its report filed in November last year. Moreover,the report had asked for prosecution of a few special cell officials for “implicating” Ali,a former IB informer,and Qamar. Ali and Qamar had then through their counsel Sufian Siddiqui moved the High Court contending it was not right on the part of the trial court to not lend credence to the CBI’s closure report in their favour and to instead call for a full-fledged trial to decide their fate. The two have been in custody since their arrest in February 2006.