By TCN Staff Reporter,
Mumbai: In a new twist to the German Bakery blast case, which according to Maharashtra ATS has been solved, a prime accused in the case Himayat Beig has claimed that he had been picked up by the police several weeks before the February 2010 blast at a popular joint in Pune, Maharashtra.
Baig, who was granted permission by the court to interact with his counsel A Rehman, informed the lawyer on 13th Feb. 2011 that he was picked up in a minor case weeks before the blast that rocked the Bakery. “He told me that he had been picked up by police weeks before the blast,” Adv Rehman said.
Rehman blamed that while trying to make his defense from the 2,700 pages of the charge sheet he found the names of witnesses have been removed. “ I faced practical problems in reading the charge sheet, determining the role of witnesses and preparing the defense as the names of witnesses were omitted from the charge sheet at the time of supplying copies” he said.
Beig’s revelation came on the same day when Union Home Secretary GK Pillai has termed the case as unsolved. “Still it is unsolved” said Pillai when asked whether the investigations into the German Bakery case were complete.
The blast took place at German Bakery in Pune city of Maharashtra on 13 Feb. 2010 killing 17 people including some foreigners and injuring many others.
The ATS arrested Himayat Baig of Pune on September 7, 2010 in connection with the blast and termed him as mastermind of the explosion and Lashker-e-Taiba chief for Maharashtra. ATS chief Rakesh Maria claimed that the accused had been present in Pune at the time of blast while ATS Deputy Inspector General, Ravindra Kadam, who was posted in Pune, rejected that Baig had ever visited the city.
However, after 3 months judicial custody of Baig, ATS filed 2,700-pages charge sheet on 4 Dec. 2010 holding him an accused in the case but yet to answer the many questions related to the blast including the triggering mechanism and the modus operandi adopted by the perpetrators.
Though Rakesh Maria had claimed before reporters that the blast detonated using a mobile phone alarm, nothing has been mentioned about the triggering mechanism in the charge sheet and the forensic analysis of the blast site had nothing to suggest presence of any mobile instrument.