Bombay High Court grants bail to accused in 2006 Aurangabad arms haul case

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Nearly 16 years after his arrest, the Bombay High Court on Friday granted bail to Bilal Ahmed Abdul Razaq, who was sentenced to life imprisonment by the special Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA) court in connection with the 2006 Aurangabad arms haul case. Bilal was arrested on May 27, 2006.
The special court had in July 2016 also sentenced six others, including 26/11 attacks plotter Sayed Zabiuddin Ansari alias Abu Jundal, to life imprisonment till death. While it had also sentenced two convicts to 14 years in jail, the remaining three were given eight-year sentences. Eight others were acquitted of all charges by the special court.
Justice Revati Mohite-Dere and Justice V G Bisht passed an order allowing Bilal’s plea seeking bail pending the hearing and final disposal of the appeal against his conviction.
A Maharashtra ATS team had chased cars on Chandwad-Manmad highway near Aurangabad on May 8, 2006 and arrested three terror suspects. Jundal, who was driving one of the cars, had fled the spot. He was eventually arrested in 2012 after being deported from Saudi Arabia.
The ATS had also seized six AK-47 rifles, 3,200 live cartridges, 43 kg of RDX and 50 hand grenades from Khultabad, Yeola and Malegaon. The prosecution had claimed that the arms were allegedly a part of a larger terror conspiracy.
Advocate Mubin Solkar, representing Bilal, told HC that there was no evidence to show his client was part of any conspiracy, as “no specific role was attributed” to him. Solkar added that since Bilal has been in custody for over 13 years and his appeal will take some time to be heard, he should be released on bail pending disposal of his appeal.
Senior advocate Raja Thakare, the special counsel for the state government, opposed the plea saying that based on the nature of offences and overwhelming evidence proving Bilal’s culpability, it was not a fit case for him to be released on bail.
The HC noted that special judge, while referring to co-accused Mohd Amir’s confession, had observed, “It is clear that he (Amir) preached or asked (Bilal) on number of occasions to be ready for jihad… which amounted to incriminating material against Bilal and also showed that he was involved in the common thought process/conspiracy to strike jihad.”
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