'Reopen post-2002 blast cases'

A bomb blast accused has filed a petition in the Bombay high court seeking appointment of a high-powered committee to re-investigate all the post-2002 blast cases in the country and granting bail to the accused who are languishing in jail for more than six years.

Saquib Nachan, arrested in April 2003 for his alleged role in a local train blast at Mulund station that killed ten persons, has urged the court to restrain the National Security Advisor from allegedly indulging in Islam and Jihad bashing.

The petitioner, who has been in jail since last seven years, has also pleaded for release of all Muslim youths languishing in jails on terror charges without trial.

He alleged that many of them were being falsely implicated. Nachan has named Congress president Sonia Gandhi, Union Home minister P Chidambaram and Maharashtra Chief Minister Ashok Chavan as respondents, saying they were at the helm of affairs and were ruling the country.

Justice Ranjana Desai and Justice Mrudula Bhatkar ordered appointment of an advocate from the legal aid panel to represent the petitioner who has been kept in Thane prison.

Nachan demanded setting up of a National Accountability Bureau for holding officers accountable for letting culprits in blast cases go scot free allegedly for communal reasons and pushing the country to the brink of civil war.

He also sought a ban on Abhinav Bharat, floated by Malegaon blast accused Lt Col Prasad Purohit, under Unlawful Activities Prevention Act