Antilia bomb scare case: HC dismisses NIA appeal against bail to accused Gaur

The Bombay High Court on Tuesday dismissed an appeal filed by the National Investigation Agency NIA against the bail granted to Naresh Gaur an accused in the Antilia bomb scare caseA bench of Justices Nitin Jamdar and Sarang Kotwal dismissed the central agencys appeal challenging a special NIA courts order of November 20 granting bailIt did not find any irregularity in the lower courts order the bench said pointing out that as per the NIAs own charge sheet Gaurs case was different from that of the other accusedThe special court had observed that Gaur did not prima facie on the face of it seem to have had any knowledge of the larger conspiracy to place a vehicle with explosives and a threat letter outside industrialist Mukesh Ambanis south Mumbai residence Antilia or about the subsequent killing of businessperson Mansukh Hiran the bench notedThe high court also noted that Gaur had been in custody since his arrest in March and he was not likely to abscond while out on bailWe have even independently assessed the material against Respondent No1 Gaur We see no reason to interfere with the impugned bail order The Respondent No1 is in custody since 21st March 2021 The prosecution has not shown any material which suggests that the Respondent No1 would abscond or would tamper with the evidence the HC saidGaur is the only accused in this highprofile case to get bailHe is accused of procuring SIM cards for prime accused and former Mumbai police officer Sachin WazeThe special court granted him bail on November 20 but stayed its own order for 25 days to enable the NIA to file an appealAlso read Antilia bomb scare case Bookie Naresh Gaur moves Bombay HC challenging special courts stay on bail orderGaur challenged the stay before a single judge of the High Court who set aside the stay so the NIA moved a division benchArguing for the NIA Additional Solicitor General Anil Singh had argued that the reasoning of the special judge was not properThe fact that Gaur had procured SIM cards illegally showed that he was part of the conspiracy to commit murder Singh saidGaurs counsel senior advocate Shirish Gupte argued that Gaur was not involved in the planting of explosives or Mansukh Hirans murderHiran who had claimed that the SUV with explosives found near Ambanis residence had been stolen from his possession was found dead in a creek in Thane days laterThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever