Gandhinagar, July 13 (IANS) The Gujarat High Court Tuesday released on conditional bail Idrishkhan Pathan and 12 others convicted for hatching a terror plot and illegal possession of arms in a case dating to 2003.
A division bench of Justice M.D. Shah and D.H. Waghela enlarged the accused on bail on condition of each furnishing a surety of Rs.50,000 and a personal bond of same amount.
Those granted bail included Afzal Khan alias Babu, Mohammed Hussain Shaikh, Mohammad Tariq Sheikh, Mohammed Zahir Sheikh, Shahnavaz Gandhi, Munnavar Baig, Mohammed Razasha Saiyed and Mohammed Rafique Pathan.
The court also ordered the convicts to deposit their passports.
At the time of their arrest in 2003, police said they were linked to Pakistan’s spy agency Inter-Services Intelligence.
Counsel for the convicts, Ejaz Qureshi, and others submitted before the court that they have been in prison for the past seven years and their appeal was still pending before the court.
For these reasons, they should be granted regular bail, the counsel said.
A special court had held them guilty of a conspiracy, for hatching a terror plot and for illegal possession of arms and sentenced them to various prison terms.