SC to hear bail plea of suspected IM member on May 23

The Supreme Court today decided to hear on Wednesday a plea by a suspected Indian Mujahideen (IM) member, who was deported from Saudi Arabia in 2012, challenging a Delhi High Court order denying him bail in a case relating to setting up of an alleged illegal arms factory here.

The plea came up for hearing before a bench comprising Justices A M Khanwilkar and Navin Sinha and the court asked the counsel appearing for accused Fasih Mahmood to serve the copy of the petition to the lawyer representing the state.

"You serve the copy (of petition) to the standing counsel for the state. We will have it day after tomorrow (May 23)," the bench told the lawyer.

During the brief hearing, the counsel said that 70 prosecution witnesses were yet to be examined by the trial court in the matter but none of them relates to his case.

On April 17, the high court had dismissed the bail plea observing that there was no valid reason to grant the relief to Mahmood, who is alleged to be an aide of IM co-founder Yasin Bhatkal, considering the gravity of offence and serious allegation against him.

The high court had also noted that accused has already been denied bail earlier by the high court as well as the apex court.

The Special Cell of Delhi Police had alleged that a huge quantity of arms and ammunition were recovered from an illegal arms factory located in Meer Vihar area here. It had also claimed that Bhatkal and others, including Mahmood, were part of the conspiracy to carry out terror strikes in the country.

The accused has denied all the allegations.

Mahmood, a mechanical engineer by profession, was alleged to be one of the key members of the IM's dreaded Darbhanga module which had carried out various terror strikes in the country since 2008.

The police had alleged that he was the "motivator" for driving the youth to join the IM and had chargesheeted him for offences under the Indian Penal Code, the Explosive Substances Act and the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act.

Mahmood was deported from Saudi Arabia and was arrested at the IGI Airport here on October 22, 2012. He was detained in Saudi Arabia in May 2012.