Mumbai, June 02: After the hoopla, the anti-climax: Just over a week after the state’s anti-terrorism squad (ATS) gave the impression that it had landed a big catch in the Pune German Bakery blast case by nabbing Abdul Samad, the elite police outfit declined to take him into custody.
The arrest had created a sensation as it was the first concrete development in the case. Even Union home minister P Chidambaram congratulated the ATS.
Consequently, it was expected that the police would make a strong case before the court and take Samad into custody on Tuesday. It has sought judicial custody instead.
“The ATS officers questioned Samad on the Pune blast. But they found no evidence,” said Samad’s lawyer Mubin Solkar, who had a brief meeting with his client for the first time since his arrest. Two of Samad’s relatives were present in court. The court has remanded Samad in judicial custody till June 14.
Samad was arrested at the Mangalore airport on May 24 on his arrival from Dubai in connection with an arms case. The ATS issued a look-out notice for Samad in a lesser offence as it did not want to scare him off.
Earlier, based on the CCTV footage at the bakery before the blast, the cops had concluded that Samad was one of the key suspects.
Arrested in a little-known arms haul case, he is co-accused with three alleged Chhota Shakeel gang members — Haji Imran, Afzal Shaikh and Suleiman Patel.
The ATS had allegedly caught the gang members on August 5, 2008, with foreign-made revolvers and six cartridges in Mazgaon.
All three were granted bail by the sessions court.
The investigating officer in the case told additional metropolitan magistrate MV Morale that the Karnataka-based supplier of the cache of weapons is still absconding. In their remand application, the police said since Samad was “not co-operating” with them, they want him remanded in judicial custody.
The application also said that in case they needed his custody, they would seek the court’s order again.
“There has been no recovery of weapons from him. The investigative agency wanted his custody because they wanted to investigate another matter,” said Solkar.
He argued that Samad should be granted bail on grounds of parity since the other three accused were out on bail.
—Agencies