Gulail unearths internal documents from more than half a dozen anti-terror agencies that show that the State has been knowingly prosecuting innocent Muslims for terror cases and keeping the evidence of their innocence from the courts.
Gulail investigated three terror cases—the 7/11 train blasts, the Pune German Bakery Blast and the 2006 Malegaon Blasts—and found that twenty one Muslims were tortoured, humiliated and sent for trial on the basis of bogus evidence. Later when the incontrovertible evidence emerged of their innocence it was either brushed aside or tailored to mislead the courts.
In the Pune German Bakery Case the accused Himayat Baig has even been sentenced to death. And another accused, Qatil Siddiqui, whose testimony could have proved his innocence was murdered in a high security prison. In the 2006 Malegaon Blasts case, even after the arrestof a set of Hindutava radicals, the NIA has still not exonerated the original set of innocent Muslims nor has it taken any action against those police officers who had planted explosives in the premises of the innocent accused. The Maharashtra Government has persisted with prosecuting thirteen innocent Muslims for the 2006 train blasts even after evidence surfaced of their innocence.
7/11 Mumbai Train Blasts
In 2006 the Maharashtra ATS arrests 13 Muslims, most of them are SIMI members and under the police watch since 2001, for the train bombings.
In September 2008 the Mumbai Crime Branch in a nation wide crackdown on the Indian Mujahideen arrests a terror suspect named Sadiq Shaikh. Besides the crime branch, he is interrogated by more than half a dozen anti-terror agencies in the country. For the next six months on different dates, at different police stations and before different officers Sadiq says that he and his accomplices, completely unrelated to the 13 Muslims previously arrested by the ATS, were involved in the train blasts.
In 2009, KP Raghuvanshi, under whose supervision the 13 Muslims were arrested, was brought back as ATS chief. In March 2009, after three weeks of police custody in the ATS lock-up, Sadiq is produced by the ATS before a magistrate. Now Sadiq does a U-turn and claims that he had falsely confessed to his role in the 7/11 blasts. Though Sadiq’s self-confessed involvement in a string of other terror attacks like the Ahmedabad blasts is accepted by other agencies. But in the 7/11 case he is let off and the 13 originally arrested continue to be behind bars.
Pune German Bakery
In December 2011, Qateel Siddiqui, a terror suspect, tells the Delhi and Bangalore Police that he was part of the German bakery terror plot. He says that Yasin Bhatkal was present with him till 2:30 pm at a hide-out in Pune on February 13th, the day of the bomb blast, with absolutely no reference to Himayat Baig, the man who had already been charged for the blast by the ATS.
So ATS takes him under its custody and accepts all his revelations save one. They predate his presence with Yasin to 11th February. Why? Because the ATS had already built a case showing Baig and Yasin being together on 13th February with no reference to any third person.
Few months later Qateel is killed in a high-security Pune jail.
Gulail investigated three terror cases—the 7/11 train blasts, the Pune German Bakery Blast and the 2006 Malegaon Blasts—and found that twenty one Muslims were tortoured, humiliated and sent for trial on the basis of bogus evidence. Later when the incontrovertible evidence emerged of their innocence it was either brushed aside or tailored to mislead the courts.
In the Pune German Bakery Case the accused Himayat Baig has even been sentenced to death. And another accused, Qatil Siddiqui, whose testimony could have proved his innocence was murdered in a high security prison. In the 2006 Malegaon Blasts case, even after the arrestof a set of Hindutava radicals, the NIA has still not exonerated the original set of innocent Muslims nor has it taken any action against those police officers who had planted explosives in the premises of the innocent accused. The Maharashtra Government has persisted with prosecuting thirteen innocent Muslims for the 2006 train blasts even after evidence surfaced of their innocence.7/11 Mumbai Train Blasts
In 2006 the Maharashtra ATS arrests 13 Muslims, most of them are SIMI members and under the police watch since 2001, for the train bombings.
In September 2008 the Mumbai Crime Branch in a nation wide crackdown on the Indian Mujahideen arrests a terror suspect named Sadiq Shaikh. Besides the crime branch, he is interrogated by more than half a dozen anti-terror agencies in the country. For the next six months on different dates, at different police stations and before different officers Sadiq says that he and his accomplices, completely unrelated to the 13 Muslims previously arrested by the ATS, were involved in the train blasts.
In 2009, KP Raghuvanshi, under whose supervision the 13 Muslims were arrested, was brought back as ATS chief. In March 2009, after three weeks of police custody in the ATS lock-up, Sadiq is produced by the ATS before a magistrate. Now Sadiq does a U-turn and claims that he had falsely confessed to his role in the 7/11 blasts. Though Sadiq’s self-confessed involvement in a string of other terror attacks like the Ahmedabad blasts is accepted by other agencies. But in the 7/11 case he is let off and the 13 originally arrested continue to be behind bars.
Pune German Bakery
In December 2011, Qateel Siddiqui, a terror suspect, tells the Delhi and Bangalore Police that he was part of the German bakery terror plot. He says that Yasin Bhatkal was present with him till 2:30 pm at a hide-out in Pune on February 13th, the day of the bomb blast, with absolutely no reference to Himayat Baig, the man who had already been charged for the blast by the ATS.
So ATS takes him under its custody and accepts all his revelations save one. They predate his presence with Yasin to 11th February. Why? Because the ATS had already built a case showing Baig and Yasin being together on 13th February with no reference to any third person.
Few months later Qateel is killed in a high-security Pune jail.
No comments: