Jaipur:In a major verdict, the Rajasthan High Court on Wednesday acquitted all four men who were sentenced to death in 2019 in connection with the 2008 Jaipur bomb blasts in which 71 people were killed and 185 others injured.
Those acquitted included Mohammad Saif, Mohammad Sarwar, Saif ur Rehman and Mohammad Salman. "All four were sentenced to death in 2019. All four death references stand rejected by the High Court,” said advocate Syed Saadat Ali. The verdict was pronounced by a division bench of Justices Pankaj Bhandari and Sameer Jain.
The high court while accepting the pleas of defence counsel, pulled up police officials for a shoddy investigation. "Police seized bill books from the bicycle vendors, but the disclosure statements were procured four months after the incident. Besides, the chassis numbers embossed on bicycles used in the blast were not matching with those printed on bill books," the defence counsel told the court while the hearing was underway in the case.
The defence counsel also pleaded before the court that "no records were seized from the cyber cafe from where the emails were sent to TV channels or other media outfit — claiming the blast."
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The court was also told that the accused came to Jaipur from Delhi travelling in a bus. After carrying out blasts in the city, the assailants returned to Delhi on the same day. But no evidence pertaining to the statement of co-travellers, CCTV camera footage and tickets —were produced before the court, stated the defence counsel.
Defence counsel Ali said, "The court rejected the entire investigation of ATS. The court in its order said that the comments were manipulated, and tampered with the statements, besides making ommissions and commissions in it (statements). The court has issued instructions to the DGP to take action against the erring investigating officers for their botched probe."
"The investigating officers failed to nab the real culprits due to their shoddy probe in the case. The ATS officers caught four innocent persons and put them behind bars. Two or three prominent news channels claimed that the emails were received by them. Those emails were not presented before the court. Besides, the police officers claimed that four accused persons reached Jaipur, travelling in a Deluxe bus. But, all four travellers had different names," added Ali.
Jaipur was rocked by a series of deadly blasts on May 13, 2008. The blasts took place at several locations in the city. The explosions claimed 71 lives as well as injuries to 185 others. One live bomb was found in a school bag kept on a bicycle near Ramchandra Temple. It was defused by a bomb disposal squad.
