13/7 blasts: Maharashtra ATS records Taquee Ahmad's statement

Maharashtra ATS on Sunday recorded the statement of Taquee Ahmad, brother of Naquee who was arrested and accused in July 13 serial blasts case, after Supreme Court asked him to do so but barred police from arresting him until it heard a petition accusing the anti-terror force of fabricating the case and also transfer of probe to CBI.

Taquee appeared before the ATS office in pursuant to an order from the Supreme Court which asked him to report to the investigating officer of the 13/7 blasts case for recording of his statement.

According to ATS officials, Taquee appeared before the authorities this morning and his statement was recorded.

The direction was given by the Apex court on March 2 while hearing a petition filed by Taquee against ATS and seeking a fair and transparent probe by an independent agency like CBI into the blasts case.

"The petitioner (Taquee) shall report to the ATS office at Mumbai and shall fully cooperate with the investigating authorities in the investigation," a division bench of Justices Altamas Kabir and Surinder Singh Nijjar directed but emphasised that Taquee shall not be arrested in this case or any other connected cases.

"We had on February 22 passed an interim order not to arrest the petitioner. Let the interim order continue till March 16 until further orders," the court said in its order.

The order came after senior counsel Shekhar Naphade appearing for Maharashtra government told the court that Taquee has been avoiding appearing before the ATS despite summons severed on him under section 160 of CrPC.

The petitioner's counsel Sanjay Khanna argued before the bench that ATS had violated the norm of serving the summons themselves rather than following the laid down norms of seeking the local police's assistance in the matter.

Meanwhile, the ATS also submitted a copy of the Act under which it was formed and the functions the force is required to discharge. The act was sought by the apex court on the last date of hearing after Taquee's lawyer Sanjay Khanna submitted that the ATS had been infringing the fundamental rights of the petitioner without following the due process of law.

Taquee, in his petition, had sought CBI probe complaining that the ATS and the Delhi police had been subjecting him and his family members to harassment by foisting false cases on them.

The petitioner has sought inquiry against officials of ATS and Delhi police's Special Cell who "implicated" his brother in the case. According to the petition, Naquee was co-operating with the Special Cell of Delhi police, keeping in mind that the matter pertained to national security and maintenance of law and order of the country.

"The Special Cell persuaded Naquee to act as its informer to which he agreed. He was taken to Mumbai in order to identify the suspects in the bomb blast case. On January 9, Naquee told us that his work was done and he would be returning from Mumbai. However the next day we were informed that the ATS had arrested Naquee in a forgery case and was later shown as the prime accused in the 13/7 blasts case," the petition said.