The 3rd Additional District and Sessions Judge, Mangaluru, S. Sandhya, has ordered the release of Sayyad Basheer’s mobile phone, the main accused in the blast at the cracker manufacturing unit in Kukkedy Gram Panchayat of Belthangady taluk in Dakshina Kannada in January 2024 in which three persons were killed.
As part of the investigation following the blast, the jurisdictional Venoor police seized the mobile phone of 49-year-old Basheer, who owned the garden shed in which the blast occurred on January 28, 2024. Basheer was among the six persons arrested in the case registered for offences punishable under Sections 447, 286, and 304 of the Indian Penal Code and Section 9(B) of the Explosive Act 1884. The mobile phone was used by Basheer to transfer money.
Basheer filed an application under Section 457 of the Criminal Procedure Code before the Additional Civil Judge and JMFC, Belthangady, seeking interim custody of the mobile phone. The Additional Civil Judge on March 2, 2024, rejected the application because it would not be safe to release the mobile phone when the investigation was on. Basheer filed a criminal revision petition before the 3rd Additional District and Sessions Judge seeking to set aside the order of the JMFC court.
Allowing the revision petition, the Judge, in her order on March 26, said the mobile phone should be released to interim custody of Basheer after he executes an indemnity bond of ₹5,000. The Judge directed Basheer to produce the mobile phone for identification during the trial. The Judge further said Basheer should not sell the mobile phone to third parties until the disposal of the case. The investigation officer should take a colour photograph of the mobile phone and produce a copy of the photograph to the trial court with a report, the Judge said.
