Bomb blast case: Accused against pardon of co-accused

Two under-trials of 2008 Ahmedabad serial bomb blasts have moved Gujarat High Court against a fellow under-trial who has been pardoned by a special court earlier this month after he confessed to his crime and turned as an approver.

This approver, whose identity has been ordered to be kept secret for his security, has already served ten years of incarceration at Sabarmati Central Jail in Ahmedabad.

The two accused petitioners, Jahid K Shaikh and Kayamuddin S Kapadia, alleged to be key accused in the case, have moved the court challenging the special court's order. The petition was supposed to be heard on Wednesday but was adjourned till Friday. The duo are among the 80 accused facing trial for more than a decade.

On April 4, special judge A R Patel passed an order pardoning the accused from the case after his repeated attempts. The accused first wrote a letter to the court from jail in which he confessed to his role in the offence and requested to be pardoned. He told the court that "I was thinking of doing this since long."

The state government didn't oppose the move and subsequently, the court allowed him to turn as an approver in this case and pardoned him as an accused under sections 306 and 307 of code of criminal procedure.

He was arrested by Ahmedabad Detection of Crime Branch soon after the serial bomb blast in July 2008 that killed 56 persons and left over 200 injured. So far, the police have arrested over 80 accused who are being tried. 1130 witnesses have been examined so far.

Shaikh and Kapadia have moved high court on the ground that the special court has not passed a reasoned order while granting the pardon. They have added that the confession from the accused comes after 10 years and therefore, it shouldn't have been accepted.