POTA slapped on bus blast accused

Four persons accused of masterminding the bomb blast in a BEST bus in Ghatkopar were on Friday booked under the Prevention of Terrorism Act,...

Four persons accused of masterminding the bomb blast in a BEST bus in Ghatkopar were on Friday booked under the Prevention of Terrorism Act, 2002 (POTA) by the Mumbai police. The four were produced before Designated Judge A.P. Bhangale on Friday and were further remanded to police custody till January 17.

The four accused — Dr Mohammed Abdul Mateen, Sayeed Khwaja Yunus, Sheikh Mohammed Muzzameel and Zaheer Ahmed Bashir Sheikh — were arrested on December 27 and had been remanded to police custody by the metropolitan magistrate. Extending the remand, the designated court observed that further police custody was necessary to conduct investigations since the probe into the matter was still at an initial stage.

New police chief justifies POTA

MUMBAI: Describing the twin blasts here as an act of terrorism, the new Mumbai Police chief Ranjit Singh Sharma today justified the invoking of POTA against the four accused. ‘‘It was a terrorist activity and calls for POTA,’’ said Sharma.

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Stressing that he was beefing up the intelligence structure of Mumbai Police, Sharma said: ‘‘Intelligence is a major aspect of crime control. I am focussing on intelligence and human intelligence will be a major aspect.’’ (Agencies)

The accused have been booked under Sections 3, 4, 18, 20, 21, and 22 of POTA. Earlier, they were arrested under Sections 120 B (criminal conspiracy), 302 (murder), 307 (attempt to murder), 326 (voluntarily causing grievous hurt by dangerous means of weapons) of the Indian Penal Code and also the Indian Explosives Act.

Abbas Kazmi, defence counsel for all four accused, made an application for a legal interview with the accused and for the removal of handcuffs. Public Prosecutor Rohini Salian opposed the plea. The court upheld her objection saying it was sad that ‘‘such educated youth were getting into these serious crimes’’ and rejected the plea for removal of handcuffs saying that considering the nature of the crime, maximum precautions should be taken to avoid any untoward incident. However, the court did allow a legal interview in the presence of the investigating officer.

Kazmi’s plea to allow home food for the accused was also turned down by the court as was the plea to allow relatives of the accused to meet them.

Meanwhile, after the debacle of the Afroz case, Mumbai police say they have been extra-cautious in slapping POTA against the accused in the Ghatkopar blast case.

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Mohammed Afroz was the first in the state to be charged under POTA. Joint Commissioner of Police (Crime) Sridhar Vagal on Friday said, ‘‘We have enough evidence against the four. We are also getting additional evidence to prove the charges under POTA in the court of law.’’

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