Court: Multiple botch-ups by a callous ATS

Jaipur: The high court verdict in the Jaipur serial bombs blast case has come as a damning indictment of the shoddy investigation by Rajasthan anti-terrorist squad (ATS) in a such a crucial matter.
This HC order acquitted four persons who were on death row for allegedly orchestrating eight explosions that claimed 80 lives and left over 170 injured on May 13, 2008.
Defence counsel punched holes in the ATS probe that overlooked the difference in the ball bearings found in the victim’s bodies and those seized as evidence.
“The ATS in their probe report claimed that the accused had purchased pellets for explosives from a shop near Jama Masjid in New Delhi. But the type of pellets differed from the ones that were found during the post-mortem reports of victims,” said defence lawyer Syed Saadat Ali.
The court noted that investigation agencies approached the case in a callous manner, unbecoming of members of uniformed posts. “The approach of the investigation agency was plagued by insufficient legal knowledge, lack of proper training and insufficient expertise of probe procedure,” it said.
Another blunder included the fact that agencies claimed that the cycles were sold on May 13, 2008, but in two of the bills, the date mentioned was of May 12. The cycles that were recovered from the blast site had different frame numbers than those which were available on the bill books.
“The bill books were not even seized by police and in some cases were produced after a lapse of almost 4 years before the court. There were manipulations in the bill books, pertaining to dates, bill numbers, etc and it is also not clear why the bill books were not seized by the investigating team. In one of the bill books, this court has also found evidence of fabrication,” the court said.
The terror strike was one of the most exhausting terror probes of the state. Police registered eight FIRs and filed four chargesheets against the five accused under various sections of the IPC, the Explosive Substances Act, the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, and the Prevention of Damage to Public Property Act.
Rajasthan Police’s handling of evidence in this entire case came across flimsy and inept. The very reason ATS was established was to probe Jaipur terror case and it failed in its very first case.
The HC also wondered why the prosecution did not produce before the court sketches drawn by the witnesses. “The sketches, which were admittedly prepared by the witnesses, were not produced before the court for reasons best known to the prosecution,” the order states.
Police also botched up the Test Identification Parade (TIP). The court ruled there was a delay in TIP and it was conducted in a manner that is a violation of norms because the investigation officer (IO) was not present during the process.