Ghatkopar blast: POTA court acquits all eight accused

MUMBAI: Giving benefit of doubt to eight accused in Ghatkopar bomb blast case, a special POTA court on Saturday acquitted them of all charges while pulling up police for its lapse to trace the missing accused Khwaja Yunus.

This was the first of the series of bomb blast cases in 2002-2003 in which POTA was invoked and controversy also broke with allegations of death of an accused Khwaja Younus due to police assault in custody although police maintained that he had escaped while being taken to Ahmednagar for investigation.

A powerful bomb blast ripped a best bus in suburban Ghatkopar on December 2, 2002, killing two and injuring 49.

The prosecution had alleged that the accused had links with Al-Qaeda and Lashkar-e-Toiba and had engineered blasts to avenge post-Godhra riots. Those acquitted were Dr Abdul Mateen, Shaikh Muzammil, Imran Rehman Khan, Mohammed Altaf, Toufiq Hamid, Aarif Hussain, Haroon Rashid and Rashid Ansari.

The judge, while acquitting the accused, observed in his order that the confessional statement given by some accused was "doubtful". In this regard, the court gave them the benefit of doubt.

The court also observed that the police had not followed proper procedure while attaching the CDs and Al Qaeda manual, seized from the accused, as a part of the evidence.

Castigating police, the court noted that if accused Khwaja Younus was indeed absconding as claimed by police, then the police should have taken all efforts to arrest him.

The court took on record allegation made by co-accused Mateen that Khwaja Younus was beaten in custody, which may have caused his death.

The judge said in the verdict that the prosecution's case was "weak" and it became weaker after the Prime witness, the conductor of the bus in which the bomb exploded, turned hostile.

The judge also said that had police had not properly investigated the mobile phone bills properly.

According to police, accused Dr Abdul Mateen, Imran Rehman Khan, Toufiq Hamid and Shaikh Muzammil were in touch with each other and police had also produced itemised bills of their phone calls.

Of the accused who were acquitted, three will continue to remain behind the bars as they are also facing charges in cases of bomb blasts at Mumbai central, Mulund and Vile Parle. They are Aarif Hussain, Haroon Rashid and Rashid Ansari.

Altogether 19 accused were arrested but nine of them were discharged during he trial on March four, 2004, by the prosecution due to lack of evidence. One more was discharged by the POTA Review Committee on April 17 last year.

Yet another accused, Khwaja Younus, disappeared from custody. A total of 148 witnesses were examined of whom eleven, including the key witness, the conductor of the bus, turned hostile.

Reacting to the judgement, BJP state president Nitin Gadkari demanded resignation of Home Minister R R Patil for accepting moral responsibility for police lapses leading to acquittal of accused in this case.