Surat blasts: Affidavit filed in UK court

SK Sinha, additional director general of police (law and order), Gujarat, sent an affidavit to the Surat police which has been submitted in a London court for the extradition of Mohammed Hanif Umerji Patel, alias Tiger. In the affidavit, Sinha has made clarifications regarding the allegations made by Tiger in the London court against his investigation of the Surat twin bomb blast case of 1993. Hanif Tiger was arrested by the UK authorities in February this year from a grocery shop in Bolton, near Manchester.

Earlier this year, the Surat police had sent a police team to London for Tiger's extradition but the team failed to get his custody. In his bail application filed in the London court, Tiger had alleged that the confessions in the 1993 case were acquired by torturing the accused.

Tiger had alleged before the London court that the key accused in the case, former Gujarat minister of fisheries Mohammad Surti, was tortured by the police and forced to make a confessional statement in the case. He had also made allegations against the overall investigation methods of the Gujarat police.

Sinha, who was the chief investigating officer of the case, had sent his affidavit in response to Tiger's allegations. “I sent the affidavit to the Surat police on Saturday; it has now been sent to the London police to be filed in court there,” Sinha told DNA.

Hanif Tiger is among the nearly 20 people accused in the case which was investigated by the Gujarat police. Of the accused, 12 were sentenced to jail terms varying between 10 and 20 years. In October 2008, Mohammad Surti and four others --Hussain Ghadiyali, Iqbal Vadiwala, Mustak Patel and Yusuf Dadu- were sentenced to 20 years imprisonment by a Tada court.

Sinha has mentioned in his affidavit that all the relevant procedures of law were followed by the police during their investigating of the twin bomb blasts that took place at Surat railway station in 1993.  "The accused were produced in court and the doctor's statement was also recorded in this connection. No accused so far has made any mention of this," Sinha said.

The first bomb blast took place on January 22, 1993 in the Varacha area where a Russia-made hand grenade was used. A young girl was killed and 27 others were injured in the incident.