SC grants bail to TADA accused in 2 arms landing cases of Guj

One of the key accused in two separate arms and RDX landing cases lodged in 1993 under stringent TADA in Gujarat on Wednesday got bail from the Supreme Court after remaining in jail for over 12 years.

The bench comprising Justices S A Bobde and L Nageswara Rao enlarged Umarmia alias Mamumia, arrested on December 10, 2004 after evading arrest since 1993, on various grounds including the fact that prior approval under Section 20A (1) of Terrorist and Disruptive Activities (Prevention) Act, now repealed, was not taken from the district superintendent of police for lodging the FIRs.

Mamumia is one of the key accused in a case relating to landing of RDX on Gosabara coast of Porbandar in 1993 and the explosives were allegedly used in serial bomb blasts in Mumbai in the same year. The second FIR pertained to seizure of explosive materials, RDX boxes, 45 bags of weapons at Zaroli and Dhanoli villages of Valsad district in Gujarat. The accused had fled to Dubai after the case came to light.

The apex court overturned the orders of the designated TADA court declining bail to the accused in the two cases and considered the fact that he was "suffering incarceration for more than 12 years" and only 25, out of 192 witnesses, have been examined in the trial.