2018 Nalasopara arms haul case: Accused Vaibhav Raut files for bail in HC

Mumbai: Vaibhav Raut, one of the accused in the Nalasopara arms haul case, who was arrested with four others in 2018, has filed a bail application in the Bombay high court (HC)

Mumbai: Vaibhav Raut, one of the accused in the Nalasopara arms haul case, who was arrested with four others in 2018, has filed a bail application in the Bombay high court (HC).

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Raut claimed that like his co-accused, who is charged under similar sections of IPC and UAPA has been granted bail by the Supreme Court (SC), he should be given bail on grounds of parity as he has been in jail for four years and the trial which has commenced is not likely to conclude soon. The application will come up for hearing in due course.

The application filed through advocate Sana Raees Khan has referred to the alleged recovery of incriminating evidence in the form of explosives and devices from the residence and shop of Raut at Nalasopara on August 10, 2018, by the Vikhroli unit of the Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS), Maharashtra and said that Raut has been framed in a bogus case.

The application refers to gaps in the statements of the panch witnesses and the discrepancies in the reports of the ATS and the Bomb Detection and Disposal Squad (BDDS) to show that the case registered against Raut was bogus and he was framed in the case.

The application has further referred to the bail granted to co-accused Avinash Pawar by the apex court and stated that as the minimum punishment for the alleged crime is five years, Raut who has been in jail for more than four years should be released on bail. The application has also stated that as only two of the 400 witnesses have been examined by the trial court and the trial has taken a back seat, further incarceration of Raut was against the established procedure laid down by the SC with regard to such accused.

On August 7, 2018, the police inspector Sandip Babaji Vishwasrao, Anti-Terrorism Squad, Vikhroli unit, Mumbai received information that some people who are residents of Pune, Satara, Solapur, Nalasopara, Mumbai were planning terror-related activities in Mumbai and Pune. The officer also got mobile numbers of some of the people involved based on which Raut and his aide Sharad Kalaskar, both residents of Nalasopara, were taken into custody.

During the search of Kalaskar’s house, the ATS found a note on bomb-making and the search at the residence of Raut yielded eight crude bombs. Based on the confirmation by the BDDS squad, an FIR was registered against Raut, Kalaskar and three others. It was alleged that the terror activities were targeted at the Sunburn festival to be held in Pune. The accused were booked under relevant sections of the Explosive Act, 1884, Indian Penal Code and Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967.

The application states that it was filed in HC after the sessions court rejected a similar application on December 14, 2022, and gives the undertaking to abide by all conditions that may be put by the HC on being released. The application is expected to come up for hearing in due course.