Guwahati grenade blast accused to be produced before Court on May 31

Guwahati, May 27, 2019:

The Judicial Magistrate of Kamrup Metro, Guwahati on Monday ordered four days police custody to pro-talks ULFA leader Pranamoy Rajguru and actress Jahnabi Saikia, the accused in the Zoo Road grenade blast.

The duo will be produced before the court on May 31. They were already in custody for the last ten days.

On May 17, two of them were arrested in connection with grenade explosion in a shopping mall in Zoo Road. Thereafter, they were remanded to police custody in connection with Geetanagar Police Station Case No. 210/2019 registered under section 325/326/307/121 of the Indian Penal Code, 1860 read with Section 3/5 of the Explosive Substances Act, 1908 and also Section 10/13/16/20 of Unlawful Activities Prevention Act, 1967.

In order to reconstruct the crime scene and for recovery of arms and ammunition the Investigating Officer sought four days more police custody for the accused of the grenade blast. The court has granted the police four days custody.

On behalf of Jahnabi Saikia, senior defense counsel Bhaskar Dev Konwar assisted by MK Brown and S Newar argued before the Court that the concept of reconstruction of the crime scene is alien to Indian criminal justice system and that no useful purpose will be served by keeping the accused in further police custody. This is because any confession by the accused or self-implication at this stage will have no evidentiary value. Moreover, they can always be interrogated in judicial custody.

It is to be mentioned that, during the period of investigation, the police have recovered one 9mm pistol, along with 25 rounds of live ammunition and two magazines from a trunk, one metal dice (suspected to be used for making explosive devices). The police also recovered one toolbox containing various tools suspected to be used in making or fitting explosive devices, 30 kg of powdered explosive in three bags, one packet gelatine weighing about 900 grams, 5 packets of powdered black gold (vermicompost), one written speech of Arobinda Rajkhowa, President of ULFA delivered on July 27, 2016 on the occasion of the raising day of ULFA. The investigation team also recovered Rs. 11,130 cash, one scooty, 4 pieces of solid suspected explosives, one electrical circuit for making or fitting an explosive device, etc.

The police also arrested ULFA-I cadres Amrit Ballav Goswami, Chinmoy Lahkar, Indra Mohan Bora, and Papu Konch Bokotiyal alias Bijoy Asom based on the inputs from Jahnabi.

Meanwhile, the court has appointed LAC Rakesh Sharma to legally represent Bijoy Asom, as he was not represented by any counsel.

The Court further directed the Investigating Officer not to torture the accused persons and to ensure that they receive proper food, clothing, and medical attention. The accused persons have to be examined by a medical practitioner every 24 hours.