Aurangabad arms haul: HC grants bail to Mustafa Sayed after 19 yrs in jail

A division bench of Justice Sarang Kotwal and Justice Ranjitsinh Raja Bhosale ordered Sayed’s release on a personal bond of ₹50,000 and one or two sureties in the same amount

MUMBAI: After being incarcerated for over 19 years without his trial reaching a conclusion, Mustafa Mehmood Sayed, an accused in the 2006 Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar (Aurangabad) arms haul case, has been granted bail by the Bombay High Court. The court cited the weak nature of the case against him, his prolonged pre-trial incarceration and the slow pace of his trial.

Aurangabad arms haul: HC grants bail to Mustafa Sayed after 19 yrs in jail

A division bench of Justice Sarang Kotwal and Justice Ranjitsinh Raja Bhosale ordered Sayed’s release on a personal bond of ₹50,000 and one or two sureties in the same amount. He has been barred from leaving Maharashtra without the trial court’s permission and must deposit his passport with the investigating officer.

The case dates back to May 9, 2006, when the Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad intercepted two four-wheelers after a chase of around 70-80 km and recovered 10 AK-47 rifles, 40 magazines, 2,000 live cartridges and around 30kg of RDX. Four days later, more arms were recovered near Ankai village along the Yewala-Manmad Road.

Sayed, a driver from Ahmednagar, was arrested on October 9, 2007. A month later, he sought to become an approver, and the special court granted him conditional pardon on the condition that he disclose everything he knew about the crime.

When charges were framed against 20 other accused in February 2013, Sayed was not among them because of his approver status. However, in October that year, he sought to withdraw as an approver and asked the court to frame charges against him. The plea was rejected and the trial commenced.

Sayed was later examined as a prosecution witness in March 2015, but did not support the prosecution case. He was declared hostile and his trial was separated from that of the other accused.

The trial of the other accused ended in August 2016, with 12 being convicted and eight acquitted. Sayed, however, remained in custody as his separate trial remained pending.

In 2024, his lawyer, advocate Mubin Solkar, told the high court that only four witnesses had been examined in Sayed’s trial, although the prosecution intends to examine around 100. He argued that the trial was therefore unlikely to conclude soon.

Solkar also submitted that there was no specific role attributed to Sayed in the arms haul, apart from the allegation that he had been sent to Bangladesh by one of the accused to collect money. He pointed out that even some convicts sentenced to life imprisonment had subsequently been granted bail by the high court while their appeals were pending.

Additional public prosecutor Gauri Rao opposed the plea, relying on Sayed’s confession and call detail records. She contended that his regular contact with co-accused showed that he was aware of the alleged conspiracy and had actively participated in it.

The court, however, noted that the confession only referred to Sayed being sent to Bangladesh to bring funds. He returned without the money after the police seized the consignment and arrested several co-accused. “Apart from that, there is no active role attributed to him through any other material in the entire charge sheet,” the judges said. “Thus, from the above facts, we are of the opinion that there is no impediment u/s 43(D)(5) of UAPA in granting bail to the Appellant (Sayed),” the bench added.