Delhi blasts: Lashkar suspect granted bail

A Delhi court has granted bail to a suspected Lashkar-e-Tayiba terrorist, accused of providing money to the alleged mastermind of the Diwali-eve blasts in New Delhi in 2005.

Additional Sessions Judge Raj Kumar Chauhan allowed a plea of Gulam Ahmed Khan, facing trial under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA), to be released on bail.

Khan sought bail on the ground that co-accused Farooq Ahmed Batloo had already been released by the Delhi High Court. Khan is accused of providing funds to Tariq Ahmed Dar, who is facing trial in the case and is suspected to be the mastermind of the blasts.

During the arguments, Khan's counsel R M Tufail and Anwar A Khan contended that the accused had already served five-year jail term prescribed under law for such offence while in judicial custody since his arrest on November 23, 2005.

They also submitted that most of the prosecution witnesses have already been examined in the case and there was no likelihood of influencing them.

Khan's counsels pointed out that the accused has been suffering from mental disorder and as been treated at AIIMS and Institute of Human Behaviour & Allied Sciences (IHBAS).

Public Prosecutor Rajiv Mohan opposed their plea on the ground that the accused had transferred over Rs 12.5 lakh to Dar's account at a branch of Jammu and Kashmir bank in Delhi.

The court, however, granted bail to Khan on furnishing a personal and a surety bond of Rs 50,000

each.

"On the ground of parity as well as in the facts and the circumstances of the case and considering the physical condition of the accused, I am of the considered opinion that ends of justice required that he be released on bail," the ASJ said.

The serial blasts at three different places -- Sarojini Nagar, Paharganj and Kalkaji -- on October 29, 2005 had claimed 67 lives and injured over 225.

Khan, facing trial in the Sarojini Nagar blast case, had allegedly supplied money through the hawala channel for carrying out the blasts in New Delhi.

The court had earlier clubbed the three blasts cases for the purpose of recording evidence after it framed the charges separately against the accused.

The court had in March, 2006 framed charges against Kashmiri militants Tariq Ahmed Dar and Mohammed Rafiq Shah in the Paharganj blast case here in which 17 people were killed and 108 injured.

Dar has been charged with waging war against the government of India (section 121 of IPC), criminal conspiracy (section 120-B), murder (section 302), attempt to murder (section 307), and under the Explosives Substance Act and relevant sections of the Unlawful Activities Act.

Mohammed Rafiq Shah, Mohammed Hussain Fazli, and Farooq Ahmed Batloo were booked under IPC sections 120-B, 307, 302 and also the Explosive Substances Act in connection with the blasts cases.