Bombay HC grants bail to German Bakery blast convict Mirza Himayat Baig in Nashik terror plot case

The HC allowed his appeal and directed him to be released on furnishing a personal bond of Rs 1 lakh with two sureties of the same amount. It also asked him to report to ATS-Nashik on the second Saturday of every month, and to not leave the jurisdiction of the trial court in Nashik.

Advocate Mubin Solkar representing Baig argued that his client was incarcerated for over 13 years and the entire prosecution relied on statements of two witnesses who had studied with Baig.

The witnesses in the Nashik Terror plot case had claimed that four years prior to the incident, in December 2006, a meeting was held wherein Baig had allegedly instigated them to join Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT).

Solkar claimed that at the time of the alleged meeting, the LeT was not declared a banned terrorist organisation, which it was in December 2008. He added that the witnesses were never actually recruited, therefore their allegations were non-substantiated. He also told the court said that 30 more witnesses were yet to be examined during the ongoing trial and so Baig be released on bail. In the Nashik terror plot case, two other people including Sheikh Lal Baba and Abu Jundal were named as accused. Jundal was also implicated in 2008 Mumbai 26/11 terror attack case and is currently under trial.

Additional Public Prosecutor PP Shinde had opposed the appeal, contending that Baig had sent some recruits to Pakistan.

In the German bakery case, the HC in 2016 had acquitted Baig of terror charges. He was given death penalty by a Pune sessions court in 2013, but the HC had found him guilty of the charge of possession of explosives and confirmed a life-imprisonment. However, he has not yet got bail in the German Bakery case.

As many as 17 people, including five foreign nationals, were killed in the explosion at German Bakery, a popular eatery in Pune’s Koregaon Park, on February 13, 2010.On December 4–2010, the ATS had filed a chargesheet against Baig and six others, Zabiuddin Ansari, Fayyaz Kagzi, Yasin Bhatkal, Iqbal and Riyaz Bhatkal and Mohsin Chaudhari.