HC quashes court order rejecting Nachan's discharge plea

The Bombay High Court has quashed and set aside an order of a special court rejecting the discharge plea of former Secretary of Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI) Saquib Nachan and his accomplice in a case of firing on an advocate in nearby Thane last year.
A bench of Justices P V Hardas and P N Deshmukh, on September 24, remitted the matter back to the trial court in Thane for a decision afresh in accordance with law.
The Judges also told the court to expeditiously decide the discharge applications of both the accused.
The accused had challenged the impugned order of March 21, 2013, of a Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act Court in Thane which rejected the discharge applications.

The accused pleaded that statements of 164 witnesses were supplied to them on April 30. Besides, other material -- the copy of station diary entries -- were obtained by them under Right to Information Act in May and August. As such, these documents were not available to the trial court when the impugned order was passed to reject their discharge plea.
Counsel for appellants, Rebecca Gonsalves and Sharif Shaikh urged the court to remit the matter back to the trial Judge for a fresh decision after taking into consideration the material obtained by the accused.
A lawyer was attacked in Thane last year by some unidentified persons near his office. The assailants fired at him and ran away. The victim claimed that he was targeted by Saquib Nachan and his men. Police filed a case against the duo in a MCOCA Court after recording statements of witnesses.

Nachan is also an accused in another case of bomb blasts in different parts of the city ie Mulund, Bombay Central and Vile Parle between December 2002 and March 2003. The trial in this case has not yet started and the accused is on bail.