Hyderabad cleric Qavi gets bail from high court

AHMEDABAD: Gujarat high court on Thursday granted conditional bail to Hyderabad-based cleric Mohammed Abdul Qavi who was arrested in connection with the 2003 ISI conspiracy case. A bench headed by Justice Anant Dave ordered Qavi's release on a bail bond of Rs 50,000. The HC asked him to surrender his passport and mark present once in a month at the crime branch office in Ahmedabad, said Qavi's counsel M A Saiyed. During the hearing of the bail plea, advocate Saiyed submitted that the clergy was never absconding during all these years. He argued that the Gujarat police never took efforts to approach Qavi. The counsel said that Qavi's was a case of mistaken identity. He argued further that Qavi has been implicated on the statement of a witness whose testimony could not stand scrutiny during the trial before special Pota court. For the state government, it was submitted that Qavi was involved in a larger conspiracy to avenge the riots. It is not necessary that the witness does not support prosecution's case this time, and the evidence is the matter of trial. Last month, a special Pota court refused bail to Qavi, who was arrested in Delhi in April. His bail plea was turned down by the lower court mainly on the ground that he was absconding for more than 11 years in this case. Besides, he is facing charges of terrorism which are serious in nature. Gujarat police booked nearly 100 people under Pota for allegedly inciting and taking Muslim youths to Pakistan for arms training at the instance of outfits like Lashkar-e-Taiba and Jaish-e-Mohammed. A special Pota court tried 44 persons and convicted 22 to 10-year imprisonment. All but one convict, advocate Mushtaq Ali Saiyed, admitted to their guilt before the HC and they were released with reduced jail term.