By TwoCircles.net staff reporter
Mumbai : The National Investigation Agency (NIA) has filed a chargesheet against alleged Indian Mujahideen operatives Ahmed Zarar Siddibappa alias Yasin Bhatkal and three others and has in effect given a clean chit to 2010 Pune German Bakery blasts convict Mirza Himayat Baig.
NIA recorded Yasin Bhatkal’s statement under section 164 of the CrPC which is very much admissible as evidence in court. According to this confessional statement Pune German Bakery blast was allegedly carried out only by him and Qateel Siddiqui, who was murdered in Pune prison in 2012.
Mirza Himayat Baig was sentenced to death for the Pune German Bakery blast. He had claimed his innocence multiple times and at the time of conviction had told sessions court that the blast had killed 17 people and now he was going to be its 18th victim. He had even requested for the case to be reinvestigated by NIA to unearth the real culprits of the blast.
He was arrested by Maharashtra ATS in September 2010. A chargesheet filed by ATS had said that Baig had assembled the bomb in his cyber cafe in Udgir in Latur (Maharashtra) and brought it to Pune where Yasin planted it in the German Bakery.
Now NIA has attached Yasin’s alleged confessional statement with the chargesheet which does not name Himayat Baig as part of the German Bakery blast conspiracy. The statement also says the bomb was assembled in Pune itself in a rented room that he had taken with Qateel. In the summary of the chargesheet NIA said that there is no evidence to link Mirza Himayat Baig with Pune German Bakery blast.
Knowing the news Jamiat’s president Maulana Muhammad Nadeem Siddiqui praised the Almighty and said that the hope to get innocent Himayat Baig released has now increased. After conviction of Himayat Baig his father and brother had written a letter to Jamiat general secretary Mahmood Madni asking for help to appeal the conviction order because of which Jamiat is fighting his appeal before Bombay High court. Supreme Court well known advocate Mahmood Paracha is appearing for Himayat Baig’s appeal before Bombay High court. Advocate Mahmood Paracha termed the NIA’s latest chargesheet as a positive report which would help innocent Himayat Baig to get justice.