State challenges Mirza Himayat Baig acquittal

The Maharashtra government on Thursday moved the Supreme Court challenging a Bombay high court verdict acquitting Mirza Himayat Baig, the main accused in the Pune ‘German Bakery bomb blast case’.

The German Bakery is situated on the North Main Road at Koregaon Park, Pune and 17 persons were killed in the bomb blast at the bakery on February 13, 2000. While the trial court awarded death sentence to the accused, the high court acquitted him of all charges holding that the prosecution was unable to prove the guilt of the accused beyond reasonable doubt.

Challenging this verdict, the Maharashtra government in its special leave petition, said the high court failed to consider that the respondent travelled to Aurangabad from Pune and reached Aurangabad. The high court has erred in observing that the evidence does not inspire confidence. It said the case is of circumstantial evidence. The prosecution has successfully showed the chain of evidence as complete to prove the guilt of the accused, that the conspiracy was hatched in Colombo.

The SLP said it needs to be seen that the case of the prosecution is that the respondent took training of making a bomb at Colombo. The high court has further erred in holding that it would be unreasonable to draw a conclusion that the accused was responsible for the blast.

The high court, it said, has not considered the evidence on record in its proper prospective and erred in holding that it would not be possible to hold that mere recovery of RDX from the respondent itself is sufficient to presumptively infer that the respondent has committed an offence of indulging in a terror act. The SLP sought quashing of the impugned judgment and an interim stay of its operation and to restore the conviction on the main accused.