Bilal’s role in bakery blast cannot be ruled out: ATS

Special prosecutor for ATS Ajay Misar raised the link while seeking the custody of Baig for the Nashik offence. Baig has so far been identified as the planter,bomb-maker and a co-conspirator in the February 13 German Bakery blast along with alleged Indian Mujahideen operative Mohsin Chaudhary and their leader Yasin Bhatkal.

“For the first time,we sought the custody of an accused again after surrendering him based on the result of the identification parade of Baig. Considering that the parade had positive results,where people gave good leads and identified the accused,we felt the need to interrogate Baig and Bilal in the presence of each other,” said Misar.

“The ATS has also informed the court that the phone records of Bilal and Baig show active communication. They also stayed together in Latur for a considerable amount of time. This puts the probe in a very crucial stage,where we need to know what was the nature of this interaction. So for now,we have told the court that we need to jointly probe them for their involvement in the Nashik offence,but also made it known to the court that Bilal’s involvement in the Germany Bakery blast cannot be completely ruled out.”

The ATS had filed an appeal in the Pune court for transfer of Baig in the Nashik offence,which was granted. Baig was on Thursday transferred to Nashik,where the court granted investigators his custody for 11 days.