HC notice to TN govt on plea for parole to Coimbatore blasts mastermind

The Madras High Court has ordered issuance of notice to the Tamil Nadu government on a petition seeking parole to S A Basha, the alleged mastermind of the 1998 Coimbatore serial bomb blasts which killed 60 people.

A vacation bench of justices V Parthiban and P D Audikesavalu passed the order recently on the habeas corpus petition filed by Basha's daughter, Mubeena.

The bench directed the authorities concerned to file a response within four weeks.

The serial blasts had taken place ahead of BJP leader L K Advani's campaign meeting in Coimbatore in 1998.

Basha was arrested in 1991 in connection with a murder case by Coimbatore city police and remanded to judicial custody. The trial court awarded life imprisonment to him in the case.

He was also arrested in connection with the 1998 serial bomb blasts cases. The sessions court on August 1, 2007, convicted him and sentenced him to life imprisonment.

According to the petitioner, Basha has served more than 20 years in the prison since 1991.

She sought a direction to prison authorities to grant her father a one-month parole as he has to hold discussions with his family on an important matter before taking a decision.