No bail to accused in Advani murder plot

Rizwan Momin's bail plea was rejected by a Mumbai court, as he was accused of harbouring Chhota Shakeel's aide Zakir Shaikh and plotting to kill BJP leader Lal Krishna Advani. Momin had argued that he was not aware of Zakir's activities, but the court noted that there were 546 calls between the two during the period of the crime. The court said Momin was part of the criminal conspiracy hatched by Zakir, adding that he had arranged SIM cards for Zakir and tried to dispose of his mobile phone.

MUMBAI: The sessions court has rejected the bail plea of Rizwan Momin, who was arrested for allegedly harbouring Chhota Shakeel’s close aide Zakir Shaikh and being part of a plot to eliminate senior BJP leader Lal Krishna Advani.

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The Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) had arrested Shaikh on September 18, 2021, whereas Momin, 41, was arrested from his Mumbra home a day later, for their alleged involvement in the criminal conspiracy and committing terror acts.

The arrests of Shaikh and Momin came after a suspected terror module was busted and Jaan Mohammad Shaikh alias Sameer Kaliya along with five other suspects were arrested by the Delhi Police Special Cell in Delhi, Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan on September 14, 2021.

After the arrests by Delhi Police, Shaikh got scared and fled from his Jogeshwari house to Mumbra and stayed with Rizwan Momin in his residence in Kausa, Mumbra for two days.

The ATS claimed that Zakir in his statement claimed that Shakeel had given him some “big work” through his brother Sagir, who resides in Pakistan. Momin, however, contended that he was not aware of Zakir’s activities.

His lawyer argued that there was no material to suggest even prima facie that Zakir was indulged in terror activities at any place to the knowledge of the applicant. There was no material which could suggest that the applicant was directly or indirectly connected with the activities of the co-accused Zakir, or he had knowledge about it.

The court, however, noted that as per the chargesheet during the period of crime, there had been about 546 calls between the applicant and the co-accused Zakir. The accused persons had hatched conspiracy regarding unlawful activities and tried to arrange people and weapons for causing the death of political and religious leaders.

The court said the accused are alleged to be members of Dawood Ibrahim’s gang and said that Momin was very much part of the criminal conspiracy hatched by Zakir. The court added that the material produced with the chargesheet prima facie showed that Momin had harboured Zakir in his house and Zakir had given a disclosure statement and produced certain articles from the house of the applicant.

The court also took note of the fact that Momin had arranged SIM cards for Zakir and also tried to dispose of the mobile handset used by Zakir by throwing it in a nullah. The broken mobile was recovered based on Momin’s disclosure statement.