The Bombay high court Monday rejected a petition filed by a prime accused in the 2003 Mulund bomb blast case pleading that he and 12 others be set at liberty as their detention under Prevention of Terrorism Act was illegal.

Saquib Nachan pleaded that he and others were not remanded from time-to-time after October 18, 2005, and hence their detention under POTA was illegal.

The petition was rejected by Justice M B Marlapalle and Justice Roshan Dalvi who agreed with the prosecutor that court need not remand them from time-to-time after the filing of chargesheet.

The accused pleaded through their lawyer Mubin Solkar that the trial court had not placed them in judicial remand after October 2005.

As such their detention was illegal and they should be set at liberty forthwith, Solkar said.

The defence lawyer pointed out the last order of remanding the accused was passed on October 18 by the POTA court of Judge A P Bhangale.

Thereafter, they were not remanded to custody and they were languishing in jail awaiting trial.

Public prosecutor Arun Borulkar said that the court need not remand an accused from time to time once the chargesheet was filed.

In this case, the chargesheet was filed in July 2003, he added.

Nachan and others are facing the charge of causing a powerful blast in a local train at suburban Mulund railway station on March 13, 2003, in which 16 people were killed.