17 years after his arrest, HC grants bail to 2006 Aurangabad arms haul case accused

The court also suspended his sentence till the till disposal of his appeal. The bench had concluded the hearing and reserved its verdict on June 6.

Khan had surrendered before the court on June 13, 2006.

The special court had in July 2016 convicted 12 men, out of which it had sentenced seven men, including 26/11 attacks plotter Sayed Zabiuddin Ansari alias Abu Jundal to life imprisonment till death.

While it had also sentenced two convicts to 14 years in jail, the remaining three were given eight-year sentences.
Eight others were acquitted of all charges by the special court.

A Maharashtra ATS team had chased cars on Chandwad-Manmad highway near Aurangabad on May 8, 2006 and arrested three terror suspects.

Jundal, who was driving one of the vehicles, had fled the spot. He was eventually arrested in 2012 after being deported from Saudi Arabia.

The ATS had also seized six AK 47 rifles, 3,200 live cartridges, 43 kg of RDX and 50 hand grenades from Khultabad, Yeola and Malegaon.

The prosecution had claimed that the arms were allegedly a part of a larger terror conspiracy.

Advocates Mubin Solkar and Tahera Qureshi, representing Khan, told the HC that the prosecution has failed to prove any charges framed against the applicant and “no specific role” was attributed to him. Despite this, the trial court had convicted him in “arbitrary”and “perverse” manner and awarded the “severe and harsh sentence”.

Solkar argued that there was no evidence to show that Khan visited Bangladesh to collect funds as alleged by the prosecution.

Senior advocate Raja Thakare, the special counsel for the state government, opposed the plea saying that based on the nature of offences including transportation of weapons and explosives and evidence proving Khan’s culpability, it was not a fit case for him to be released on bail.

The bench, in its verdict, made available on Friday, observed, “Apart from confession of two accused with reference to the applicant, there was no other corroborative material/evidence has been pointed out by the prosecution, to show that the applicant in fact visited Bangladesh via Calcutta and that the applicant brought funds pursuant thereto.”

It also said there was no evidence that the applicant had knowledge or reason to believe the purpose for which he was allegedly sent to Bangladesh or the larger conspiracy.

“Admittedly, both the said confessions have been retracted. Nothing has been recovered at the instance of the applicant,” the bench noted.

On July 15, 2022, nearly 16 years after his arrest, a bench led by Justice Revati Mohite-Dere had granted bail to co-accused Bilal Ahmed Abdul Razaq.

Referring to the same, the bench said that the present applicant stood on “better footing”.

“The applicant has been in custody for the last 17 years. It appears that the applicant whilst in custody completed his BA through IGNOU and secured 63% and later did his Masters in Political Science. It also appears that the applicant has done a 6 month Yoga Course and is working in the Jail Hospital at Taloja. It also appears that the applicant is conducting counseling and de-radicalization sessions in Prison with the help of Jail authorities.”

The bench held that Khan prima facie made out the case for suspension of his sentence and release on bail pending disposal of his appeal.

The HC directed Khan to be released on furnishing Rs 50,000 as personal bond with sureties and asked him to report to the ATS once in two months till his appeal is disposed.

It also asked Khan to keep the trial court and ATS informed about his current address and contact details from time to time.

The court also asked him to deposit passport with the investigating officer before his release. It also said that the applicant shall not leave Maharashtra without prior permission of the court.