rediff.com: Two accused allowed to join serial blast trial

A Terrorist and Disruptive Activities (Prevention) Act court in Bombay allowed the prosecution to frame charges against two accused at the fag end of the serial blast trial, on Thursday.

Designated TADA judge P D Kode directed the Central Bureau of Investigation to frame charges against Hamid Abbasmiya Dafedar and Mohammed Kasim Lajpuria alias Mechanic Chacha, who allegedly took part in the conspiracy to trigger off serial blasts in Bombay in early 1993.

There is no provision under the Criminal Procedure Code, which allows framing of charges after trial commences and more particularly at its fag end. However, these cases were considered by the court in view of the peculiar circumstances faced by the duo, according to defence lawyer Farhana Shah.

Dafedar was arrested in April 1993, but charges were not framed against him because he suffered from schizophernia in partial remission and is under treatment at the psychiatric ward of the government-owned J J hospital in Bombay.

The court had released him on bail in view of his mental illness and ordered constitution of a medical board to examine the capability of the accused to stand trial. The board filed a report on July 11 that the accused was now fit to join the trial. Dafedar also pleaded that he be allowed to do so as he was now in a position to understand the evidence being recorded.

Mechanic Chacha was absconding ever since the trial began in mid-1995. However, he was apprehended at the Indo-Nepal border and produced before the designated TADA court for the first time on November 5 last year.

Both have been allowed to join the trial on the condition that they will examine only concerned witnesses.

The prosecution's case is that Dafedar had participated in arms training at Sandheri in Raigad district just before the serial blasts occurred in the metropolis.

The prosecution alleged that Mechanic Chacha was the main agent of absconding accused Mohammed Dossa, who arranged for landing of arms and ammunition at Dighi coast in Raigad district on January 9, 1993, prior to the serial explosions.


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