VASCO
Vasco JMFC Court B Judge Sabhana Shaik on Thursday evening granted conditional bail to the suspect Sameer Sardana, after the police and other law enforcement agencies failed in their efforts to get the court to extend his remand in police custody.
Judge Shaik, who was hearing another petition, adjourned the hearing and paved way for Sadana’s hearing, which was scheduled at 10 am on Thursday.
a, sans-serif">While arguing on Sardana’s behalf, Adv Srikant N Joshi said Sardana was falsely implicated in the case stating that he was seen at the Naval and other installations at Vasco.
“Sardana is the son of an ex-serviceman and as chartered accountant by profession, he has worked in international companies,” he added.
Adv Joshi further said as Sardana did not succeed in his profession, he had travelled to many countries.
“Of the six passports found with Sardana, five are genuine, while one had expired. Whenever one travels to a foreign country, one has to furnish details of any other country the person had visited earlier to the embassy to avail visa and the same details reflect on the passport. The case is same with Sardana, due to which he had five valid passports,” Adv Joshi told Judge Shaik.
Referring to the application of Section 41 to detain Continued from P3
Sardana, Adv Joshi said the arrest under Section 41 and the remand thereafter is applicable if the accused was earlier arrested in other criminal cases. “In Sardana’s case, he does not have any cases, either in Goa or elsewhere,” said Adv Joshi.
Objecting to further remand, Adv Joshi said after Sardana’s arrest, the ATS and police had failed to inform his family members about his arrest, which is direct violation of the Supreme Court judgement.
“At the time of arrest, there were no witness, no arrest memo was served and there was no known person to him, which again violates the Supreme Court judgement,” he said.
“The family members came to know about Sardana’s arrest only through the media and then, they got in touch with him,” he added.
“Sardana is in the custody of the ATS for over 10 days and till date, they failed to find any incriminating evidence against him for further remand. Hence, Sardanna should be released on bail,” appealed Adv Joshi.
While arguing about 23 SIM cards found with Sardana, Adv Joshi said all the SIM cards are international and any person visiting a foreign country has to purchase a SIM card of that country. “As far as downloading the material of bomb making, any one can download material, as it is easily available on Google.”
He dismissed the police claim that Sardana was required by the ATS as they needed time to get access to details of emails and that they needed to be analyzed. “Till date, the ATS has failed to get any incriminating evidence during the 11-day remand. While granting conditional bail Judge Shaik directed him to furnish a bond of Rs 10,000, a surety and to report to the ATS at Panaji for the next four days. The judge also prohibited him from leaving the country without prior permission.
