Samajwadi Party wants German Bakery blast re-probed

The Samajwadi Party's Maharashtra unit Tuesday demanded a re-investigation of Pune's German Bakery terror attack by National Investigation Agency in view of recent claims by blast convict Mirza Himayat Baig.

Baig, awarded the death penalty, has approached the Bombay High Court pleading that he has been falsely implicated in the case by Maharashtra Anti-Terrorist Squad and the matter should be probed again by the NIA, said state Samajwadi Party general secretary A.Q. Choudhary.

The high court is currently hearing the confirmation of Baig's death sentence, awarded by a Pune trial court April 18, for his involvement in the Feb 13, 2010, terror blast that killed 17 people.

The German Bakery blast case took a new turn with the arrest of Indian Mujahiddeen leader Yasin Bhatkal last month.

While the Maharashtra ATS concluded that Bhatkal was with Baig while planting the bomb in the restaurant, Delhi Police and Bangalore Police found that Bhatkal was accompanied by Qateel Siddiqui.

Choudhary said that the NIA has carried out impartial investigations in the 2006 Malegaon blast case leading to clean chit for nine innocent Muslim youth and implicating members of right-wing organizations.

"Other terror cases in the state like the July 11, 2006, Mumbai local trains blast case and the triple blasts case of July 13, 2011, in which several innocent Muslim youth charged with terror are languishing in jails after they were implicated by the ATS should be re-probed by the NIA," he demanded.

Choudhary also hit out at union Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde for issuing instructions to state governments to refrain from harassing Muslim youth in the name of combating terrorism.

"This is nothing but an attempt to gain sympathy and votes of the community with the forthcoming parliamentary elections," he said.

If the government is indeed so serious, then why is there delay in releasing the accused Muslim youth in the 2006 Malegaon blast case who have already been cleared in an NIA probe, he asked.