JOIN USThe Supreme Court on Tuesday rejected the bail plea of a suspected member of the proscribed Tamil Nadu-based terrorist organisation ‘Al-Umma’.
He has been chargesheeted for procuring a SIM card for the co-accused who carried out a blast in a motorcycle in front of a KSRP van at Malleswaram in Bengaluru in 2013.
A bench of Justices Madan B Lokur and Deepak Gupta dismissed the petition filed by 30-year-old Basheer.
The petitioner challenged the Karnataka High Court's order of January 5, 2017. The high court did not find sufficient ground to grant bail to Basheer, a Tirunelveli resident.
It had said if the offences, as alleged against the petitioner, under various provisions of law are proved, the punishment would be either death or imprisonment for life.
Not made accused
Senior advocate Ratnakar Dash, appearing for the petitioner, submitted that he was accused of providing SIM cards to the other accused but the person who committed the theft of the mobile phone has not been made an accused in the case. He also claimed that the said mobile phone was not seized.
‘No major role’
“The offence is of wide ramifications, I admit, but there was no major role ascribed to me. All that the prosecution claims is only of circumstantial evidence,” the counsel said.
The bench, however, was not impressed with the arguments. The court declined the plea. In his plea, Basheer has claimed that he was in judicial custody since April 22, 2013 and there was no progress in the trial. The Bengaluru police's Central Crime Branch had claimed that the accused had also planned to plant a bomb in front of the BJP office with an aim to target political leaders due to ensuing Assembly elections.
The accused, along with others was chargesheeted under various provisions of the Indian Penal Code, the Prevention of Damage to Public Property Act and the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act.