Bilal Ahmed Kawa was on the run since 2000 and allegedly hiding in Kashmir
A Delhi court today granted bail to Bilal Ahmed Kawa, an LeT suspect arrested in the 2000 Red Fort attack case, noting that except one, all other co-accused have either been acquitted or discharged.
Additional Sessions Judge Sidharth Sharma noted that the other accused acquitted or discharged by the trial court and the Delhi High Court, were facing more serious charges than Kawa.
The court granted the relief to Kawa on furnishing of a personal bond of Rs 50,000 and a surety of the same amount, and directed him not to hamper the probe.
Kawa was arrested from Terminal-3 of the Delhi airport on January 10 during a joint operation by the Delhi Police and the Gujarat Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS), and currently was in judicial custody.
In his bail plea, Kawa had claimed that no purpose would be served by keeping him in custody further.
The police have alleged that Kawa had received Rs 29.5 lakh from Pakistan to fund the terror attack on the historic Red Fort on December 22, 2000, in which three people, including two Army jawans, were killed.
They told the court that Kawa, one of the conspirators in the attack, was absconding for 17 years and had been declared a proclaimed offender.
While Kawa was on the run, a trial court in October 2005, awarded death sentence to Pakistan-based LeT terrorist Mohammad Arif alias Ashfaq. Two key conspirators -- Nazir Ahmed Qasid and his son Farooq Ahmed Qasid -- were awarded life imprisonment.
Additional Sessions Judge OP Saini had also awarded seven-year jail term to Ashfaq's wife Rehmana Yousuf Farooqui, an Indian, for giving shelter to the main accused. Other convicts -- Bagar Mohsin Baghwala, Sadaqat Ali and Matloob Alam -- were also awarded seven-year rigorous imprisonment.
On September 2007, the Delhi High Court had upheld the death sentence to Ashfaq, saying terrorists who have no value for human lives deserved capital punishment.
The high court, however, acquitted six others, including Farooqui, citing lack of sufficient evidence against them.
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