MUMBAI, Jul 7 (TOI): Mubin Solkar, defence lawyer of Abdul Samad Zarar, who was earlier termed as a Pune German Bakery blast suspect, said that Samad was innocent and was never questioned in the blast case. Solkar further said that Samad had nothing to do with the Arms Act case in which he was arrested and released on bail.
Samad was arrested from Bajpe airport in Karnataka by the Maharashtra anti-terrorism squad (ATS) on May 24 for his suspected involvement in the February 13 bomb blast case which killed 17 people. However, he was booked in a nine-month old Arms Act case.
Samad (23) appeared before the media for the first time since his arrest on Tuesday. Wearing jeans and a shirt, he was smiling during the press briefing by his defence lawyer Mubin Solkar. "Unfortunately, an alias has been added to his name, Bhatkal. His name is not Bhatkal, neither he has that surname," said Solkar. Contradicting Union home ministry's statement about Samad's role in the Pune blast case, Solkar said, "Samad was never arrested for the Pune blast. He was booked in the arms seizure case. Samad does not have anything to do with the Arms Act case too. We will explore all the legal options about filing a discharge application in future."
The ATS had arrested Samad based on a CCTV footage where a young man was shown coming to German Bakery with two bags and leaving the Bakery with only one bag. The ATS teams went to Karnataka where Samad studied and confirmed if the man in the CCTV grab was similar to Samad. After getting confirmation, the ATS picked him up from the airport on May 24 soon after he landed from Dubai.
(pic by Rons Bantwal)
"He was never questioned in connection with the Pune blast not did the Intelligence Bureau official asked him anything related to the blast," claimed Mubin Solkar, who had earlier told the media that Samad had been questioned about the Pune blast case. Solkar said Samad had in his life never visited Pune. "On the day of the blast, Samad was in Bangalore," he said. The lawyer said that Samad had stayed in a lodge in Bangalore and that they have documentary proof as well. Solkar said Samad does not have any brother with the name Yaseen Bhatkal. "His brother's name is Ahmed Mohammed, who went to Dubai in 2005 for a job, stayed there for a year and left his father's place after a personal dispute with him. Since 2006, he is not in touch with any of the family member," said Solkar.
"The ATS said Samad supplied firearms to Chhota Shakeel gang members. But here too, we say that he has nothing to do with this case as well," said Solkar.