German Bakery blast convict Mirza Himayat Baig has written to judges of the Bombay High Court, pleading that he was falsely implicated by the Maharashtra ATS, and that the case should be reinvestigated by the NIA.
On April 18, Pune additional sessions judge N P Dhote gave five death sentences and six life sentences to Baig for the February 13, 2010 bombing. Baig has already filed an appeal before the high court. The case has taken a twist following the arrest of alleged Indian Mujahideen kingpin Yasin Bhatkal last month. The Maharashtra ATS has claimed that Bhatkal was with Baig when he planted the bomb at German Bakery. But the Delhi Police Special Cell and Bangalore Police have said that Bhatkal was accompanied by Qateel Siddiqui.
Siddiqui was arrested by Delhi Police on November 22, 2011. The Maharashtra ATS subsequently took him to Pune, where he was killed in Yerwada prison, allegedly by fellow inmates. Bhatkal is currently being interrogated by NIA.
Baig, now convicted prisoner number C-353 at Mumbai Central Prison, has written to the high court in Marathi, in his own hand. The letter was forwarded by the superintendent of the prison to the high court registrar on August 14. “I beg to submit that I have been falsely implicated in the German Bakery bomb blast case. I have no association with any terrorist organisation,” Baig has written. “I did not get an opportunity to present my case in the trial court. I could not hire an experienced lawyer. The ATS kidnapped me and kept me in illegal detention… for 19-20 days and I was subjected to inhuman torture. Electric shocks were given to my private parts… The ATS took my signatures on blank papers. At that time, my condition was such that if somebody had asked me to sign on a suicide note, I would have done even that…”
