File photo of Afzal Usmani
Afzal Usmani, a suspected member of terror group Indian Mujahideen and accused of serial bomb blasts in Gujarat in which at least 50 people were killed and 200 were injured, escaped this afternoon from a court in Mumbai, triggering a massive manhunt.
Usmani, who is 37, was taken from prison to court along with 22 others to hear the charges against him. The prisoners were allegedly allowed to mingle with relatives waiting outside the cramped court room. The police says Usmani may have disappeared then.
Two of the 10 officers who were escorting the prisoners have been suspended; sources say more policemen may be punished soon.
When the court assembled at 2.45 pm for the hearing, Usmani was missing.
In July 2008, 20 bomb blasts tore through Ahmedabad in a little over an hour, killing 56 people and injuring more than 200. Usmani is accused of executing that massive terror attack.
Usmani's arrest from Uttar Pradesh a month later in August 2008 helped to lead investigators to identify the Maharashtra unit of the Indian Mujahdeen, the Mumbai police has claimed.
Usmani's alleged career in crime began as a member of a Mumbai underworld gang. The police says he started as a car thief; in 1996 he was booked for attempt to murder.
His brother, Faiz Usmani, died after he was arrested and questioned by the Mumbai police in 2011 after a trio of bombs exploded in rush hour in crowded parts of South Mumbai, killing at least 20 people and injuring over a hundred.
The family alleged that he had been tortured, but a post mortem report ruled that he died of a heart attack.