Mumbai crime round-up: HC grants bail to a 2008 Ahmedabad blast accused

Observing that a person could not be accused of being part of an organised crime syndicate and a terrorist group, simultaneously, the High Court on Monday granted bail on Rs50,000 to Mohammad Atik Iqbal.

An alleged Indian Mujahideen operative, 27-year-old Iqbal is an accused in the 2008 Ahmedabad blast and had allegedly attended the Jihadi meeting organised by the Bhatkal brothers and was accused of having been found in possession of 31 timers.

He is also accused  of having attended the party organised to celebrate the Ahmedabad blast.

“The court accepted the contention that the timers found in his possession are normal alarm clocks readily available in the market. Just because it was found in Iqbal’s possession does not prove that he used them as an explosive device,” said Iqbal’s lawyer Mobin Solkar.

Justice AM Thipsay also paid heed to the defence’s argument regarding the anomaly of accusing Iqbal of being a part of an organised crime syndicate and a terrorist organisation simultaneously.

Observing that the objectives of both the modules were poles apart, the court said that while the activities of an organised crime syndicate are motivated by economic gains or for desire of supremacy, a terrorist group works pin pointedly on terror activities.

Therefore, jumbling their roles failed the prosecution’s case.

Two more arrested in Chembur-based elderly's murder
Two more persons have been arrested by the city crime branch in the brutal murder of Chembur-based senior citizen last week. The duo was arrested from Darbhanga in Bihar on Monday. This is the third arrest made in the case so far.

Five senior citizens have been murdered in the city in past two weeks.

The arrested duo has been identified only as Ujala and Ishiaq, both residents of Govandi.

According to Ganesh Kanojia, who was held in the case on Saturday, Ujala and Ishiaq along with one more accomplice, had barged into S Parshuraman's flat, posing as a bill delivery man and refrigerator service persons.

Eighty nine-year-old Parshuraman was killed on the spot while his 80-year-old wife, Rajamma was critically injured in the incident. The accused fled away from the spot with 80gm gold.

Parshuraman and his wife were living alone on the second-floor flat of Krishna Niwas building, Chembur for around 50 years. There was no security guard in the building at the time of the incident and no CCTV are installed there.

“We are investigating what the motive of the crime is. Their past criminal records is also being scrutinised,” said additional commissioner of police, crime, Niket Kaushik.

Minors accused of murder of 61-year-old patient
The Chunabhatti police on Monday added one more charge, of murder, against the four minors arrested by them in connection with the death of 61-year-old Sharakat Khan, who undergoing treatment at BMC’s Bhabha Hospital at Kurla (West), said VS Kalekar, assistant police inspector of Chunabhatti police station.

The post mortem report of Bhabha Hospital stated that Sharakat died to due to strangulation. Based on the report, the police registered one more section of murder against the four minors, said Kalekar.

The four minors were earlier held under sections 324 (simple injuries) and 34 (common intention) of Indian Penal Code by the police on Sunday. Resident of Kasaiwada slum colony at Qureshi Nagar, Kurla (East), Sarakat Khan, who was heart and diabetic patient, sustained minor injuries when he intervened in a quarrel between his sons and neighbours.

21-year old abducted, assaulted by 4 men
A 21-year-old boy was allegedly abducted and assaulted by four men on Saturday night. The incident took place after the boy obstructed their way at Kandivali (East).

Allegedly, the boy was kidnapped and taken to Mira Road where he was assaulted, following which, he was abandoned. He later took an auto rickshaw and returned to his Kandivali residence.

According to the police, the victim has been identified as Rahul Tasgaonkar, a resident of Kamgaar hospital quarters at Akruli road in Kandivali. Rahul’s father Vijay is a doctor in the same hospital.

On Saturday, at around 10.30 pm, Rahul was trying to cross the road outside his residence, when he noticed an Innova car coming towards him. Rahul tried to stop the Innova while crossing the road. Angry with this act, the driver started making obscene gestures at him. Both Rahul and the driver, Mahendra Rajendra Dillod, 26, a resident of Mira Road had a heated argument, following which he was kidnapped.

Abu Jundal's ATS custody extended
Suspected terrorist and 26/11 handler Abu Jundal's ATS custody was extended till October 3. On Monday, he was produced in Nashik court before the chief judicial magistrate (CJM) AD Sawant.

Jundal's advocate MB Joshi argued that his client be remanded to magisterial custody as he was in police (ATS) custody for 14 days, giving them sufficient time for interrogation.

Special public prosecutor Ajay Misar said the accused is a trainer in his outfit and knows the functioning of the judicial system and the police. During the last 14 days custody, the ATS has been able to interrogate him and get some vital information, which would need further investigation.

Misar told the court that during investigation, it was revealed that Jundal had connections with terror outfit Lashkar-e-Taiba and that he planted sleeper cells across the country to conduct recee and get vital information. The special police prosecutor said this needs to be investigated as it was a matter of nation's security.

Misar added that 10 website IDs and email IDs have been recovered from Jundal. These were used to communicate in code language with his bosses. The code still needs to be deciphered and for that the accused's custody is necessary.

Jundal is in ATS custody in Mumbai since September 11 in connection with a 2010 case, where the Maharashtra ATS had raided a house in Satpur and arrested Bilal Shaikh, an alleged LeT member, and seized RDX and some other explosives.

Himayat Baig, an accused in Pune's German Bakery blast, was also arrested in the case.

Seven accused are still missing. It is learnt that they might have fled to another country and hence Jundal's custody is important to trace them out.