HC rejects petition challenging combining bomb blasts cases

Mumbai, Sep 4 (UNI) The Bombay High Court today rejected a petition challenging combining of three cases of bomb blasts that had taken place at Mulund railway station, Ghatkopar and Vile Parle in 2002 and 2003.

Saquib Abdul Hamid Nachan, an accused in Mulund railway station bomb blast case, had challenged the order of special Prevention of Terrorism Act (POTA) court, on the ground that three seperate crimes were registered. They were investigated by different investigation officers and different sets of accused were arrested in these offences.

Nachan contended that the police should have filed three different chargesheets, but a single chargesheet was filed and that was not permissible in law.

But a division bench of Justices R M S Khandeparkar and S R Sathe rejected his petition and accepted the state's contention that all the three bomb blasts were part and parcel of one transaction conspiracy.

The court, in its order, observed that nothing could restrain the police from filing one chargesheet in three different offences, once it was established in the investigation that the offences were part of one conspiracy.

A powerful blast had ripped off part of a local train at Mulund railway station on March 13, 2003, whereas the Ghatkopar blast took place on December 2, 2002, and Vile Parle blast on May 23, 2003.

UNI