26/11: Maha plea on 2 acquitted accepted
The Bombay high court on Thursday admitted an appeal filed by Maharashtra government against acquittal of Faheem Ansari and Sabauddin Ahmed in the 26/11 terror attack case and deferred till August 30 the hearing on confirmation of death sentence awarded to convicted terrorist Ajmal Kasab.
Justices Ranjana Desai and Vijaya Tahilramani issued warrants against the two acquitted and directed that they be produced before a subordinate court.
Currently, both are lodged in separate prisons in Uttar Pradesh in connection with a case of firing at CRPF camp in Rampur, according to government’s counsel Ujjwal Nikam. Under CrPC, when an appeal is admitted the high court issues a warrant directing that the accused be arrested and brought before it or a subordinate court which may send him to prison pending appeal’s disposal or grant bail.
In a related development, the court deferred the matter pertaining to confirmation of death sentence to Kasab to August 30. Kasab was convicted for killing 166 persons with nine other accomplices of LeT on November 26, 2008 at various places in Mumbai.
The court asked lawyers Amin Solkar and Farhana Shah to expedite filing of Kasab’s appeal against the death sentence.
The judges said they would fix the schedule for day-to-day hearing of these matters — confirmation of death sentence and the appeals — on August 30.
Mr Nikam told the court that he would take two months to argue on confirmation of death sentence to Kasab, while defence lawyer Amin Solkar said he would need about a month to give his submissions on the appeal against capital punishment. Kasab, lodged in a heavily guarded isolated cell in Arthur Road Central Prison, was not produced before the court. Mr Nikam argued that there were eight clinching circumstances to show that Faheem and Sabauddin were part of the conspiracy. —PTI
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