The Bombay High Court on Tuesday refused to grant bail to Ramesh Gadkari and Vikram Bhave,who were convicted for planting explosives at auditoriums in Thane and Vashi in 2008. The court,however,admitted the appeals filed by the duo challenging their conviction. The accused had sought bail till the court finally decides their appeals. The accused,convicted under various sections of the Indian Penal Code,Explosive Substances Act,Explosives Act and Destruction of Property Act,have contended the trial court erred in holding that a test explosion was carried out by Bhave prior to the blasts in May and June 2008. They also said in their petition that the possibility of the Anti-terrorism Squad manipulating the swab collected from near Bhaves house in Ratnagiri cannot be ruled out. The swab was tested after 15 days,their petition stated,and the test report revealed there was nitrate present in it. They told the court the prosecution has never said that nitrate,per se,was an ingredient of the alleged explosives that caused the blasts at Vishnudas Bhave Auditorium at Vashi and the parking lot of Gadkari Rangayatan in Thane. Additional Public Prosecutor Geeta Mulekar,however,told the court that the state government had proposed to file an appeal in the High Court seeking a stricter punishment for Gadkari and Bhave,who were granted 10 years imprisonment by the trial court. She also said that apart from the swab that tested positive for nitrate,the police had also recovered gelatin sticks,detonators,two revolvers and bullets from Bhaves house in Ratnagiri. Justice J H Bhatia took note of the allegations against the two convicts and said they were serious in nature. Mulekar also said that the government is considering filing an appeal against four other accused who were acquitted in the case. The accused were acquitted by the trial court in a third blast case pertaining to a bomb that went off in a Panvel theatre screening the film Jodhaa Akbar on February 20,2008,following a delay on the part of the complainant in approaching the investigating agency.
