Special court reserves order on discharge plea

Mumbai, Nov 5 (UNI) A special Prevention of Terrorism Act (POTA) court today reserved its orders till November 17, on discharge petition filed by accused of twin blast of 2003, on the basis of Supreme Court order and Central POTA review committee's recommendation.

Special public prosecutor Ujwal Nikam told Justice M R Puranik that the Supreme Court had discharged Mohammed Hassan Mohammed Anas Shaikh alias Hassan Batterywala and Mohammed Rizwan Mohammed Ishaq Ansari alias Ladduwala only from POTA charges and they would be tried under Indian Penal Code (IPC) in the case.

However, defence advocate Safi Shaikh said the Apex court has clearly said in its order that accused would be discharged from POTA case. Following this, the order was reserved.

On August 25, 2003, two blasts occurred at Gateway of India and Zaveri Bazar here, killing about 50 people and injuring several others. The accused in both the cases were same and so, the trial was clubbed.

Batterywala and Ladduwala were arrested here in September 2003 with explosives and are languishing in the jail since then.

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