BENGALURU: The Special Court for NIA cases on Thursday rejected the bail application filed by an accused involved in the bomb blast near the BJP office in Malleswaram in 2013.
Basheer, a resident of Tirunelveli in Tamil Nadu, and a suspected member of the banned terrorist outfit Al-Umma, is accused number two in the case, in which 18 people, including 12 police personnel, were injured after an IED planted on a bike exploded near the state BJP office on April 17, 2013. It is alleged that he had stolen a SIM card from a Hindu man, so the same could be used to procure explosives.
Basheer moved a bail application on the grounds that the trial had not yet commenced. He also cited that his wife had passed away, and he had to take care of his three children and an ailing mother. The prosecution filed objections, stating Basheer was a hardcore terrorist and part of a terror organisation, and had played a key role in hatching a conspiracy to explode the BJP office. He wanted to take revenge against the Karnataka BJP government for arresting Abdul Nasser Madani in connection with the 2008 serial bomb blast in Bengaluru.
Special Judge Kasanappa Naik, who heard arguments of both sides, noted that the accused’s wife is no more, and that he has to look after his children is not a legal ground to grant bail. He also mentioned that the Karnataka High Court had already rejected bail to him in the case.
“The accused has not shown any changed circumstances to entertain the bail application, and has not made out any grounds for grant of bail,” the judge observed, before rejecting the application.