Jailbreak bid case: Cops secure transfer warrants of accused

Gujarat police today secured transfer warrants for interrogating 14 accused in the 2008 serial bomb blast, who were involved in the failed attempt to escape from the Sabarmati Central Jail earlier this month.
"The Crime Branch today secured the transfer warrants of the 14 bomb blast case accused against whom offence has been registered in the attempted jail break case and tomorrow they will be produced before the sessions judge to get their custody," chief public prosecutor Sudhir Brahmabhatt told PTI.
Metropolitan Magistrate B J Ganatra granted the transfer warrants of the 14 accused.
A major jailbreak plan of terror accused was unearthed in the Sabarmati Central Jail on February 10, when jail authorities stumbled upon a six feet deep and 26 feet long tunnel, where 15 of the 56 Ahmedabad serial bomb blast accused were lodged.

Jail authorities had registered a case and state government has handed over the investigation to the Detection of Crime Branch (DCB) Ahmedabad.
However, citing the seriousness of the bomb blast case, the state government had earlier invoked the provisions of section 268 of the Criminal Procedure Code(CrPC) prohibiting the movement of all these accused out of the central jail.

As a result, trial of the bomb blast case has also been conducted by sessions judge Jyotsna Yagnik in the special court set up inside the jail premises.
Now, as transfer warrants has been secured by the crime branch for the interrogation of the bomb blast accused involved in failed jail break attempt state government has decided to revoke the prohibitory orders under the section 268 of the CrPC.

"We have sent a letter to the investigating agency mentioning that government has no objections for lifting the section 268 only if and after they secure the custody of those accused against whom prohibitory orders were invoked," said Principal Secretary Home S K Nanda while talking to PTI.
"Revocation of those orders will be of limited purpose of custodial interrogation of the accused in this case," he said.
On February 10, when the jail authorities suspected that something was amiss with two inmates at the Barrack number-4, called 'Chhota Chakkar' where some of the bomb blast case accused were lodged, they searched it and found the tunnel dug from inside.

The issue was also raised in the state assembly when the opposition Congress members staged a walk out on February 21 to protest government's rejection of their demand for setting up an all-party fact-finding committee over the incident.