Out on bail,Mirza hopes to get back his DRDO job

Seven months after he was arrested by the Bangalore Police in an alleged terror plot,Aijaz Ahmed Mirza was released on bail on March 5

Seven months after he was arrested by the Bangalore Police in an alleged terror plot,Aijaz Ahmed Mirza was released on bail on March 5. Now he hopes to get back his job as junior research fellow with the Defence Research Development Organisation once he gets a clean chit. Following the arrest,the DRDO had terminated his fellowship last month.

The 25-year-old was among the 15 youths who were arrested from Bangalore,Hubli,Hyderabad and Nanded in an alleged LeT-linked plot to kill right wing leaders. Mirza was released on bail after the NIA failed to file a chargesheet against him. The agencys mandatory 180-day period for filing chargesheet under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act had lapsed on February 28.

The NIA in the case has so far filed chargesheets against 11 of them. It has dropped charges against two persons,journalist Muthi-ur-Rehman Siddiqui and commerce graduate Yusuf Nalband,for want of evidence. It had told the special court last week that further probes were on against Mirza Ahmed and Syed Tanzeem.

I think I have not been given a clean chit yet. When I get a clean chit I will get my job back. I have the confidence that I will be taken back in DRDO, Mirza said on Wednesday after his release from prison. I still dont know why I was arrested. I am confident that I will be discharged by the court, he said.

On his jail period he said it used to be difficult thinking about friends and family. We thought they will impose severe charges on us. Later people from the Association for Protection of Civil Liberties met us in the jail and assured us that we will be freed. Our confidence rose when we knew someone is backing us, Mirza said.

Aijaz now wants the case against him and other fast-tracked. I wish the trial is completed soon so that we have a verdict on who is guilty and innocent, he said. Mirzas younger brother,Shoaib Ahmed Mirza,23,is among those charged so far.

Mirzas lawyer,Akmal Rizvi,said an application would be moved in the special NIA court on March 15 for discharge of Mirza from the case on account of no evidence against him. There is an application which we will file on March 15 asking the court to discharge him because he has not been chargesheeted, he said.

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Mirzas father,Abdul Rauf Mirza,57,said the police should notify parents on arrests. They need to explain why they were arrested. A life-long black mark has come against them. We have children who are seeking jobs,who have to be married. Our friends were not talking to us,0our families distanced themselves, he said.