Gujarat high court grants bail to accused in prison break at attempt case

The Gujarat high court has granted regular bail to Saquib Nisar Shaikh in the 2013 Sabarmati prison break attempt case. Shaikh was the fourth accused and the last to be acquitted in the 2008 serial blasts case.

Twenty other accused in the prison escape bid were among the 49 convicted in the blasts case in which 38 were awarded death penalty and 11 others got life imprisonment.

In all, 24 men accused in the prison break attempt were in jail in the serial blasts case. 

Earlier in Aug, the HC granted bail to two accused persons — Nisar Ahmed Patel and Nadeem Saiyed. Before this, the Supreme Court granted bail to Raziuddin Nasar from Hyderabad.

These accused got bail 11 years after they were charged in the prison break case, and two years after they got acquitted in the serial blasts case, in Feb 2022.

While granting regular bail to Shaikh, Justice Nirzar Desai considered the aspect of parity his role was identical with the roles of the three co-accused who had been granted bail. 

Twenty-four accused persons lodged in the jail in connection with the serial blasts case were charged for the jail break effort, and criminal conspiracy.

At a later stage, police invoked Section 130 of IPC for aiding the escape of ‘state prisoners’ or ‘prisoners of war’.