2008 Jaipur serial blasts: After acquittal, court rejects bail application of one accused in another related case

The present case, which is the ninth FIR lodged in the aftermath of the blasts, is related to the discovery of an unexploded live bomb which was later defused by experts. The case is currently in the trial stage, said Additional Advocate General (AAG) Rajesh Maharshi, who appeared on behalf of the state, opposing the bail application of Sarvar.

“We argued that the trial is pending in the live bomb case and only 35 witnesses have been examined in the case. There are more than 200 witnesses and the accused cannot get the benefit of the acquittal order because the government is going to file an SLP (special leave petition) in the Supreme Court to seek legal remedy against the acquittal order.

Earlier, the accused had been awarded the death sentence and thereafter they got acquittal from the high court. There are two conflicting views by two different courts and no concurrent view,” Maharshi told The Indian Express on Saturday.

Sarvar, along with three others – Saifurrehman Ansari, Mohammed Saif and Mohammed Salman – were sentenced to death by the trial court in 2019, an order that was overturned last month by the Rajasthan High Court which acquitted all four of them and also came down heavily on the investigating agency.

Saifurrehman Ansari and Mohammed Saif were also awarded death sentences in the 2008 Ahmedabad blast case.

Terming the investigation “shoddy” and “not fair”, the high court had also directed the Rajasthan Police chief to act against the erring investigating officers.

The counsel representing Sarvar argued in the court that the present case for which bail was requested was not different from the eight cases in which the accused was already acquitted by the high court, and Shahbaz, another accused in the present case, was already granted bail by the HC.

The state argued Sarvar’s name and his role in the 2008 Jaipur blasts have been mentioned in the statements made under section 164 by terror accused Yasin Bhatkal and Asadullah Akhtar alias Haddi and that the charges in the present case are serious.

While rejecting Sarvar’s bail application, the court said the possibility of the accused appearing in the court is less and in case bail is granted, then there will be a possibility of trying to threaten or break away witnesses.

Advocate Syed Saadat Ali, who was the counsel for Sarvar and the other accused in the high court case in which all four were acquitted, said that an appeal will be filed in the high court against the rejection of Sarvar’s bail application.