MUMBAI, Sep 22: The mysterious death of Quatil Siddiqui, suspected to be a terrorist of banned Indian Mujahideen, has returned to haunt the elite Anti-Terror Squad of Maharashtra Police with Bombay High Court deciding to take up a petition of his family seeking an impartial probe by a central agency or a court-appointed Special Investigating Team.
Sidqiqui was arrested by Delhi Police’s special cell and chargesheeted for various terror-related crimes including for his alleged role in the 2010 German Bakery blast.
Maharashtra ATS took him into its custody on May two, 2012 after he was accused of having planted a bomb at Dagdu Seth Halwai Ganesh Temple in Pune on February 13,2010, the day bomb blast outside the bakery killed 17 people including foreigners.
He was killed by two inmates in high-security Yerwada Prison on June eight last year.
His family has moved the Bombay High Court that will take up the petition tomorrow.
“Prima facie the motive to kill Siddiqui lay with Maharashtra ATS as he was allegedly negating their theory that Himayat Baig (sentenced to death by Pune court in the German Bakery blast) was involved in the crime,” says lawyer Mehmood Parcha who represents Siddiqui’s family.
“We want a probe by a central agency like the CBI or NIA or a court-appointed SIT to probe the circumstances into the case,” he said.
While seeking a probe, the petition said the Delhi Police Special Cell kept Siddiqui in its remand continuously for almost three months claiming that he was involved in various crimes.
“The Maharashtra ATS has framed the deceased Quatil Siddiqui not in the crime of ‘German Bakery Blast’ as claimed by Delhi Police Special Cell but in a freshly registered different crime for the so called attempt to keep the bomb in Dagdu Seth Halwai Ganesh Temple Pune of which there was no record or mentioning till the arrest of the deceased,” the petition said.
In its grounds for seeking a thorough investigation, the family alleged that “it is shocking to note the registration of crime for the offence of attempt to blast Ganesh Temple took place almost after a gap of almost more than 22 months. The role of ATS authorities required to be scrutinized.”
The family alleged that the killing of Siddiqui in High Security Egg Cell of Yerwada Prison was an “outcome of high level conspiracy for saving the ATS sleuths who falsely framed Mirza Himayat Baig in German Bakery Blast, Pune”
On the autopsy report, it said the opinion of medical experts squarely contradicts with the theory of strangulation as the explanation by professor and head of forensic medicine department, Medical College Pune, categorically stated that “deceased has consumed liquor (ethyl alcohol) prior to death.
“Exact time of consumption of ethyl alcohol cannot be opined. However, time of his last meal was four to six hours prior to death,” the medical report said.
While making it clear that Siddiqui was a pious Muslim and never consumed alcohol, the family still wanted to know “how it is possible in the High Security Egg Cell Central Prison to consume the same or who administered the same?” (PTI)
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