Pune blasts accused Samad seeks bail

Abdul Samad Bhatkal, arrested in a 2009 illegal arms seizure case and a suspect in the Pune German Bakery blast case, has approached a sessions court for bail.

Samad, who was sent to judicial custody on Tuesday in connection with the arms case, moved the sessions court after the metropolitan magistrate rejected his bail plea stating that investigation was still in progress. Samad was arrested by Anti-Terrorism Squad on May 25 from the Mangalore airport and was booked under the Arms Act for supplying firearms to three other persons, who were arrested in August.

Soon after his arrest, Union Home Minister P Chidambaram had stated that Samad was a prime suspect in the February 2010 German Bakery blast in Pune that killed 17

persons and injured several others. However, the ATS has till now not booked Samad in the Pune blast case. Samad in his bail plea, which will be heard on Thursday, has stated that there no serious allegations levelled against him and there has been no recovery of arms from him. "The remaining three accused in the arms case are out on bail. So, on grounds of parity even Samad should be granted bail. Moreover, if his name had figured in this case last year itself, why did the ATS wait for a year before arresting him. He has been falsely implicated," Samad's lawyer Mubin Solkar contended.