Ahmedabad, Sept 16: Ten SIMI activists, arrested
in the July 26 bomb blasts case, were on Tuesday remanded in 14-day
police custody by a court here in connection with one of the
cases.
The suspects, including the alleged mastermind Mufti
Abu Bashir, were produced before Metropolitan Magistrate G M
Patel.
The Crime Branch sought their custody for interrogation
in a case registered at the Khadia police station. Three
blasts at Khadia had claimed five lives and injured over 45
people.
In all, 18 cases had been registered in different
police stations of the city with regards to the serial blasts
that killed 55 persons.
Besides Bashir, the others in custody are Jahir
Sheikh, Imran Sheikh, Sajid Mansuri, Iqbal Sheikh, Samsuddin
Sheikh, Yunus Mansuri, Gyasuddin Ansari, Arif Kagzi and Usman
Agarbattiwala. They all were arrested last month and are in
custody since then in separate cases.
Listing out the grounds for remand, Special Public
Prosecutor J M Panchal said the accused were involved in
planting bombs in Khadia, considered a sensitive area.
The blasts were targeted at disrupting the communal
harmony in the locality inhabited by people from the majority
community, he said.
The remand was also necessary to find out the
involvement of other SIMI members in the blasts and also their
planning and execution, Panchal said.
Panchal further said the accused may have information
on the people behind the September 13 Delhi blasts and hence
their remand was necessary.
The SIMI men's interrogation was required to get more
information on the absconding suspects, the Crime Branch said.
Defence counsels I M Munshi and Hashim Qureshi opposed
the remand, saying their clients had been in police custody
since past one month and hence there was no need for their
further remand.
Munshi argued that one month's time was sufficient for
the investigating agency to get information from their
clients.
Qureshi also objected to the use of word 'Hindu area'
for Khadia and said parts of the city cannot be classified by
a government agency on the basis of religion.
After hearing the arguments from both sides, the court
sent the accused in police custody.
Meanwhile, Sazia, wife of one of the accused, Sajid
Mansuri, today submitted an affidavit in the court saying her
husband was under stress. She also alleged that Mansuri was
subjected to mental and physical torture by the investigating
agency and he needed medical attention.
The court took the affidavit on record but did not
make any specific comment in this regard.
Bureau Report
