Suspected IM member granted bail in threat e-mail case

The Bombay high court has granted bail to Mohammed Ateeq, one of the 23 accused arrested by Mumbai Crime Branch on charges of sending threat e-mails to a TV news channel claiming responsibility for the 2008 Ahmedabad blasts.

The bail was granted yesterday by Justice A M Thipsay on the ground that the accused was in custody since last four years and the trial had not yet commenced.

Ateeq has been asked to furnish bail of Rs 50,000 and to attend the crime branch office on every date of the trial court hearing.

According to prosecution, Ateeq is a member of Indian Mujahideen, which is a terrorist organisation under Unlawful Activities Prevention Act and an organised crime syndicate under Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act.

The prosecution further alleged that being a member of IM, he attended certain meetings with the co-accused where they discussed about jehad.

Further, after the Ahmedabad blasts, Ateeq attended a celebratory dinner organised by a co-accused. Also, 31 timers were recovered from him.

Ateeq's lawyer Mubin Solkar said IM was notified as a terrorist organisation on June 4, 2010, and even assuming the prosecution's case as it is, the celebratory dinner and the alleged meetings had taken place in 2007 and 2008 when IM was not declared a terrorist organisation.

Solkar said it is not the prosecution's case that Ateeq associated with the other co-accused as a member even after IM was notified as a terrorist organisation.

"This could never have been the case because Ateeq is in custody since October 4, 2008," he said.

Solkar argued that timers were ordinary alarm clocks easily available in the market and possessing them does not constitute any offence.