1996 Lajpat Nagar blast accused disputes date of arrest

One of the accused in 1996 Lajpat Nagar blast case on Friday told a Delhi court that he was framed as he was picked up by the police almost a fortnight before being shown as arrested.

One of the accused in 1996 Lajpat Nagar blast case on Friday told a Delhi court that he was framed as he was picked up by the police almost a fortnight before being shown as arrested.

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"Accused Naushad was actually picked up by the police on May 28, 1996. However, the police claimed he was arrested from New Delhi Railways station on June 14, minutes before he was to board a Gorakhpur-bound train," defence counsel Khalil A Ansari said.

Advancing final arguments in the 13-year-old case before District and Sessions Judge S P Garg, Ansari said the father of the accused had then petitioned National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) about his "illegal" detention.

"A NHRC official has deposed this fact while recording his testimony as a defence witness," he said.

The date of arrest of the accused was under dispute and hence, his complicity was not proved, the lawyer said.

The arguments in the case were inconclusive and would resume on October 28.

Earlier, the accused had alleged frame-up saying there were "major discrepancies" in statements of prosecution witnesses regarding their arrest.

The prosecutor, however, said there was sufficient evidence against the 10 accused for convicting them for their roles in the blast that had rocked a busy market here on the evening of May 21, 1996, killing 13 people.