— Photo: By Special Arrangement

TASTING FREEDOM: Abdul Matin, an accused in the Ghatkopar bomb blast of 2002, outside the sessions court in Mumbai on Saturday after the special POTA court acquitted all the eight accused in the case.

MUMBAI: The acquittal of the eight POTA accused in the Ghatkopar bus blasts case was based on the fact that the confessional statements were doubtful. Also, the incriminating CDs and material from al-Qaeda were attached as evidence without following the proper procedure and there were no local panchas.

There is also a big question mark about Khwaja Yunus, one of those arrested in the case. Though the police say he is absconding they are yet to trace him. Eleven witnesses, including the bus conductor who was an eyewitness, turned hostile during the course of the case.

Meanwhile, Dr. Mohammed Abdul Matin and the seven others who were acquitted, were overjoyed by the verdict.

Dr. Matin, a doctor of medicine, told reporters: "I am in a euphoric state. I could not even thank the judge properly. I am innocent and I knew it all along. Today, I am proved right."

Imran Rehman Khan, who was deported from Dubai and arrested when he reached Aurangabad, said, "I told the court the very first day that I am not involved in this case at all." Muzammil Jamil, an engineer, who was picked up in Mumbai when he had gone to the office of Mahindra British Telecom, said he knew all along that he would be cleared of all charges.

However, of those acquitted on Saturday only Dr. Matin, Muzammil Jamil, Imran Rehman Khan, Mohammed Altaf and Toufiq Hamid will be released while three others are wanted in the Mulund blasts case.

Toufiq will be taken to Chennai where is wanted in a case under the Explosives Act.

A tearful Nasir Hussain, brother of Aarif Panwala who has been acquitted but will not be released, said, "My brother is completely innocent and for 25 months he has rotted in jail. He still is not a free man as they have wrongfully charged him in another case. He has three children and his mother is in hospital. There is no case."

Amina, wife of Imran Rehman Khan said, "I have waited for this moment along with my three children. I had never even left my house or seen a court earlier. The verdict shows there was no evidence at all."

Defence lawyer Pervez Memon said the prosecution had "miserably failed" to prove their case.

Mobin Solkar, another lawyer for the defence, said the manner in which the confessions were extracted from the accused left room for doubt and obviously, the court had not accepted or relied on them.

Mohammed Ismail, father of Altaf, looked skywards and thanked God for the verdict. "A lot of innocent people were charged with false cases. My son is a chemical engineer — he had gone to Dubai to work, not hatch conspiracies," he said.

He was upset that it was the Congress regime that applied the POTA to his son and the others.

Meanwhile, the public prosecutor in the case, Rohini Salian, said the prosecution had relied on circumstantial evidence, as it was not always possible to get direct evidence.

She said the State was going to challenge the order in a higher court.

The Mumbai police, already under a cloud for the disappearance of Khwaja Yunus, are also waiting for the order before preferring an appeal.

Dhananjay Kamlakar, Deputy Commissioner of Police, said the police had placed on record all the evidence they had. The verdict was not a blow for the police.

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