Bombay HC grants bail to Vaibhav Raut in Nalasopara arms haul case

New Delhi [India], October 6 : The Bombay High Court has granted bail to Vaibhav Raut, a member of the Hindu Govansh Raksha Samiti and Sanatan Sanstha, Nalasopara arms haul and terror plot case under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, (UAPA).
Raut was arrested in 2018 in the Nalasopara arms haul and terror plot case under the UAPA.
A division bench of Justice Revati Mohite-Dere and Justice Gauri V Godse passed an order on September 20 in Raut's criminal appeal against the trial court order.
The high court has quashed and set aside the December 2022 order of the trial court that rejected Raut's plea seeking bail. The court noted that Raut has been in custody for the last five years and the prosecution intended to examine about 417 witnesses and only four have been examined to date.
The bench also noted that the Supreme Court had granted bail to co-accused Avinash Pawar in August 2022 citing long incarceration and no likelihood of early conclusion of trial, and that the high court had granted bail to co-accused Pratap Hajra and Liladhar Lodhi in March 2023 on similar grounds, therefore, Raut deserved bail on parity
Advocates Sana Raees Khan and Aniket Pardeshi for Raut argued that the appellant was in custody for more than five years and with no prospect of the trial against him concluding in the near future.
Adv Sana Raees Khan further argued that the recovery of bomb from the house and godown is not as per section 27 of Indian Evidence Act and recovery was done prior to the arrest of the appellant rendering the same inadmissible.
Advocate Khan further submitted documents of the house and godown in the court to show that the house stands in the name of the Appellant's father and the same doesn't stand in the name of the appellant.
Moreover, the godown stands in the name of Om Sai Developers and the same doesn't stand in the name of the appellant, Khan argued, adding that mere possession in the absence of proof of exclusive ownership is not sufficient to attribute the recovery of bomb to the appellant.
"Although Prosecution relied on bank transactions between the appellant and Om Sai Developers to show that the appellant purchased the godown," Adv Khan argued.
There is no sale deed or MOU on record to corroborate this allegation, he added.
Advocate Khan further said that although diary has been recovered at the instance of the appellant, content of the diary is not corroborated by the statement of the witnesses to establish the link between the alleged offence and the appellant.
Advocate Khan argued that as per the allegation of the prosecution, appellant was doing recee at the sunburn event and since the appellant and other accused were captured in the cctv footage doing recee, their plan was aborted. However, no such footage is brought on record till date to corroborate this allegation.
Advocate Sana Khan argued that the test identification parade by the witnesses show that the appellant attended the sunburn meeting which was attended by the witnesses as well and there is nothing on record to show what transpired in the sunburn meeting.
The Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) had in 2018 booked 12 people under provisions of UAPA, Explosive Substances Act, Explosives Act, Arms Act and Maharashtra Police Act, as well as offences of criminal conspiracy, destruction of evidence and harbouring an offender under the Indian Penal Code.