The Home Ministry says that a green signal from the High Court for a special ‘terror’ court would be exactly what the doctor ordered. Speaking to DNA, ministry sources say that while the trial into the Bangalore blasts could take a long time in a regular court, a special one will speed up the process.
The state government has sought the Karnataka High Court’s approval to set up a special court for conducting a speedy trial into the serial blasts that rocked the city on July 25, 2008.
Home Ministry sources said that the government has already submitted a request in this regard to the court, and is hoping that it will give the green signal. “If a special court is granted, we can complete the trial at one go. If the matter comes before a regular court, it will take a long time,” an official said.
Confirming this, commissioner Shankar M Bidari said that the city police will file a chargesheet against all the accused persons in the July 25 serial blasts case. “I hope that the serial blasts as well as the IISc attack, which occurred in December 2005, will be referred to the same court,” he stated, adding that prime accused Tadiyandavide Nasir alias Haji, who hails from Kannur in Kerala, was brought to the city by a Friday evening flight.
Bidari said that the accused will be produced before a Bangalore court as the police had already sought the issuance of a red corner notice through the Interpol. “At first, Nasir will be taken to Kerala on a production warrant issued by a Kannur court. He will be brought to Bangalore after the Kerala police complete preliminary procedures,” he said.
According to Nasir’s confession to the Imphal police, he had commandeered a Mahindra Scorpio a week before the blast and acquired Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) from one of his contacts in Palakkad. The IEDs were placed in 11 locations around 4pm on July 25, 2008, nine of which had exploded within an hour. A woman was killed and eight others were injured in the blasts that occurred on Hosur Road and Mysore Road.
In May, the city police filed a chargesheet before the jurisdictional court in connection with blasts at eight locations in the city. The chargesheet, running into 718 and 568 pages, was submitted before the first additional chief metropolitan magistrate in connection with three cases registered at the Madivala, Koramangala and Adugodi police stations.
As many as 26 accused persons were named in the chargesheet. Ten of them were already held, and with the arrest of Nasir and Safaz, the total number has gone up to 12. While four others died in an encounter in Jammu and Kashmir, eight are absconding. Four of the 26 terrorists were foreign nationals. Among the absconding suspects is Riaz Bhatkal, the team’s financial guru.
The cases lodged against the suspects range from murder to attempt-to-murder, waging war against the country, criminal conspiracy, unlawful assembly and others under the provisions of the Explosive Substances Act. The persons currently in the custody of the city police are Abdul Jabbar (35) of Tirur in Malappuram district, Mujeeb of Chakkarakkal in Kannur district, Abdul Sattar (57) of Kondotti in Malappuram district, Faizal (24) of Kannur, Abdul Jaleel of Kottur in Kannur district, Munaf of Mambaram, Sarfuddin (28) of Malappuram district, Badruddin (28) of Ernakulam and Sakariya of Parappanangadi in Malappuram district. Another accused, who was arrested in Mangalore, has been identified as Haushad.
Most of the persons involved in the bomb blasts had taken up the job with the technical support of Abdul Sattar, who provided the timer device and microchip for the improvised explosive devices (IEDs), while Riaz Bhatkal was the one who placed the order for IEDs.
The Research and Analysis Wing (RAW), India’s external investigation agency, claimed that the LeT was involved in the blasts. Some of the accused, who were members of the Students Islamic Movement of India earlier, had floated the Indian Mujahideen after its ban.
Police claimed that the arrest of Abdul Sattar from his hideout in Hyderabad had facilitated the arrests of the other terrorists. Sattar had recruited some youths from places across the country and tried to make them cross over to Pakistan through the Jammu and Kashmir border. However, four of them were killed in an encounter with the Army in October last year.
An examination of their belongings revealed that the terrorists had visited Bangalore frequently and used BMTC buses to travel. The group, belonging to the Shahbuddin Gowri Brigade of the Indian Mujahideen, aimed at striking select targets across South India.
Comments