By Rehan Ansari, TwoCircles.net,
Mumbai: The period of wait for the nine Muslim accused in Malegaon 2006 bomb blast, who are in jail since 2006, and who had filed bail application on 1st of October, got extended. The hearing of their bail plea was deferred till 19th of November 2011. The court deferred the matter after the National Investigative Agency (NIA) told the Special Maharashtra Control of Organized Crime Act (MCOCA) Court, that its reply on the issue of bail to the nine Muslim accused arrested in the 2006 Malegaon blast case, was not ready yet.
Nine Muslims accused in Malegaon blast [NDTV photo]
The court gave the NIA time till November 4 to submit its stand on the issue, along with the reports of polygraph and brain mapping tests, conducted on the accused. The next hearing of the case has been fixed on November 19 after NIA submits its stand and report on November 04.
NIA which is at present investigating the case, will not oppose the bail. Home Minister P Chidambaram had told the press that, “since there is a confession (by Swami Aseemanand), the NIA will not oppose the bail of none accused.”
The accused in the Malegaon 2006 had filed for fresh bail application before the MACOCA court after the case was handed over to the NIA. The NIA had, in turn, conducted a polygraph and brain mapping test on the 9 accused but had found nothing against them.
“We have contended that from Swami Aseemanand’s confessional statement, it is clear that those responsible for the 2006 Malegaon blasts, are persons far removed from the current accused,” said lawyer Khalid Azmi, who is also representing some of the accused.
Azmi pleaded on behalf of the accused that they have been languishing in jail for over four years and “there is no direct evidence of their involvement in the said offence and it was only based on the forcibly-taken confession statement”.
A bomb blast took place on Sep 8, 2006 blast near Hamidia Mosque in Malegaon, killing 37 people, shortly after the Friday afternoon prayers.
The investigation of Malegaon 2006 bomb blast took a radical turn after Swami Aseemanand, who was arrested in Ajmer and Samjhauta blasts, confessed that the 2006 Malegaon blast was also the handiwork of Hindu Rightwing terrorists.
After Assemanand’s confession early this year, there was huge pressure on the investigative agencies as well as the political leadership of the Congress party, both at the center as well as in Maharashtra, to release the Muslim accused. But the case got caught in investigative and legal formalities.
For instance even before the NIA, two other investigative agencies, Maharashtra ATS and the CBI investigated into the case and had also filed chargesheet against the accused but the entire case was demolished after Aseemanand’s confession. Even after the stand of the CBI, that it was not against the bail plea of the Muslim youths arrested in the case, the MACOCA court refused to grant them bail because of the procedural reason; because n March 2011, the case was transferred to the NIA which started the investigation afresh.
The accused are: Abrar Ahmed, who is represented by his brother, lawyer Jalil Ansari, Salman Farsi, Shabbir Ahmed, Nurulhooda Doha, Rais Ahmed, Mohammed Ali, Asif Khan, Javed Sheikh and Farooque Ansari, represented by Tamboli and Azmi. (With inputs from IANS)