Pota court rejects bail of 56 Godhra accused

AHMEDABAD: The special Pota court in Ahmedabad, which has been appointed to hear the Godhra violence case, on Thursday rejected six bail applications containing the names of 56 accused.
In the same court, the Special Investigating Team (SIT) filed the fourth charge-sheet in the Godhra carnage case of February 27, 2002, framing charges against two of the accused before the expiry of the 90-day period.The accused are Jabbir Binyamin Behera and Idris Ibrahim Charkha alias Shaka. Behera had, in a statement recorded under section 164 of the CrPC, disclosed the name of Maulana Hussain Umarji as being a key figure in the Godhra conspiracy.
Behera was charged as a part of the conspirator while Charkha faced charges for being a part of the mob that attacked the Sabarmati Express.
On the basis of Behera’s confession which was submitted to the court, the SIT arrested the Maulana, but no charges were framed against him on Thursday. Further, the court also extended the police remand of Shahid Anwar Sattar alias ‘Kala’ upto April 24. Sattar was picked up from Mumbai recently on charges of having sheltered some of the Godhra accused.
Special Judge Sonia Gokani who heard the matter at length during two long sessions on April 9 and 10, rejected the bail applications taking note that further investigation in the matter was still on. All the accused were charged under Pota in February, much after the filing of the chargesheets. The court while hearing the submissions of the defence and prosecution had reserved the order for Thursday.
The 56 names also included the names of those accused whose had moved their bail pleas at different sessions court in the state, which were eventually transferred before the Special Pota court here, from the courts of Panchmahals district. Seeking bail on behalf of the accused, their counsel submitted that the investigating agency has been filing incomplete dummy chargesheet before the court. He said the investigating officer has “not completed� the investigation and to hide which he has filed dummy chargsheets. Thus in wake of incomplete investigation, under provisions of the Criminal Procedure Code the accused should be entitled to bail in default, following the inability of the agency to file complete chargesheets within 90 days. But prosecution counsel HM Dhruv stated that the chargesheet was very much complete.