The Bombay High Court on Monday granted bail to Mohammad Atik Mohammad Iqbal, suspected to be a member of the banned Indian Mujahideen (IM).
The Mumbai Police Crime Branch arrested him in 2008 along with several other suspected IM members in connection with two e-mails sent in the aftermath of the Ahmedabad and Surat blasts. The group was charge-sheeted in 2009 under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act and the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act.
“Atik is not an accused in any blast case. He is only connected with the sending of the e-mails. Among the grounds on which the court granted him bail was that he had spent four years in custody,” Additional Public Prosecutor Pradeep Hingorani told The Hindu .
As per the confession of one of the accused, Atik attended a dinner party held after the blasts. “He had attended a lecture, but not attended any training. The investigators had recovered 31 clocks from him, which we contended could be used as timers. The court, however, felt they could also be used for other purposes.”
Atik was given bail on a surety of Rs.50,000. The Yavatmal-based software engineer will have to appear at the Criminal Investigation Department’s office when required.
“Atik allegedly attended the celebratory dinner after the blasts and attended meetings in 2007 and 2008, when the IM was not even notified as a terror organisation. It came to be declared so in 2010. Plus, there are no allegations of his overtly committing the act of sending the threatening e-mails,” said defence counsel Mubin Solkar.
According to the charge sheet filed by the Crime Branch, the IM was held responsible for the blasts in Ahmedabad, Delhi, Jaipur, Surat and Hyderabad.
