2021 terror plot: Bail rejected to accused

The ATS had claimed that Shaikh had given instructions to his co-accused to destroy his cell phone and SIM card. The agency said that it was broken into pieces and destroyed to such an extent that the experts at the Forensic Science Laboratory of Mumbai and Hyderabad could not retrieve anything from it.

“It shows prima facie involvement of the accused in commission of the offences. Otherwise, there cannot be any reason for any ordinary common innocent man to destroy his cell phone and the SIM card. Breaking it into pieces to such an extent that superior technical experts of the FSL also failed to retrieve anything from it. No explanation, much less satisfactory, is tendered on the part of applicant/accused Jakir about destruction of his mobile and SIM card,” special judge C S Baviskar said in the order, rejecting Shaikh’s bail plea.

The ATS had claimed that Rs 49,000 was transferred to Shaikh by his brother who allegedly resides in Pakistan via a well-known money transfer portal. The police claimed that this was towards funding for a conspiracy to commit attacks on MPs and MLAs who speak against Muslims and that the money was sent at the behest of gangster Chhota Shakil.

It was also alleged that Shaikh was in touch with one ‘Anthony’ from Pakistan, where the conspiracy was hatched, to recruit Muslim youth for the alleged offences. Shaikh had in his bail plea said that there is no material to that effect to show that he had been part of any conspiracy, planning or execution of the alleged plot.

In 2023, the Bombay High Court had granted bail to Shaikh’s co-accused, Mohammed Irfan Shaikh, a tailor, arrested by the ATS in 2021. The court had then said there was not a single statement of witnesses to show that Irfan was aware of any terror activities. The trial in the case is yet to begin.

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