The Allahabad High Court has granted bail to two men who were accused of being part of an alleged terror module linked to Al-Qaeda.
Mohammad Mustaqeem and Mohammad Shakeel were granted bail by a bench of Justices Attau Rahman Masoodi and Om Prakash Shukla. The order was passed on March 2.
The two were arrested on July 14, 2021, by the Uttar Pradesh Police Anti-Terrorism Squad and were later handed over to National Investigation Agency. They were among the six people held in connection with the case.
The investigating agency claimed that the accused had links with Al Qaeda’s Ansar Ghazwat-ul-Hind arm and were planning to effect blasts in Lucknow and other cities of Uttar Pradesh ahead of Independence Day that year.
In its Thursday order, the high court noted that the investigation in the case has been concluded and a chargesheet has been submitted before a special court.
“Looking at the past antecedents of the appellants being unblemished coupled with the fact that they are in jail for the last one year and eight months and trial has begun, a case for grant of bail is made out,” the court said.
The bail was granted on condition that the accused will cooperate in the investigation and will mark their presence before a local police station in the first week of every month.
Families say ‘falsely charged’
Meanwhile, the families of the two accused claimed that the men were being falsely framed as terrorists and that there is no strong evidence against them, Maktoob reported.
“Shakeel has a clean record and never got involved in criminal activity in the past,” his brother Iliyas said. “He picked up passengers [in his e-rickshaw] for Rs 5 to feed his family. If he was working for a terror outfit, why would he be so poor.”
He added: “These charges have been framed with politics in mind.”
Mustaqeem’s wife also told Maktoob that the ‘terror charges’ against her husband were false and added that she had only her husband to support her.
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