Sharad Mohol files bail plea, says he was made 'scapegoat'

PUNE: Sharad Mohol (29), the main suspect who was arrested for murdering Indian Mujahideen operative Qateel Siddiqui (27) at the Yerawada central prison last year, has filed a bail plea alleging that he was made a scapegoat in the case.
The bail plea will now come up for hearing before additional sessions judge N P Dhote. The court has issued notice to the prosecution to respond to the plea by November 8.The plea filed by lawyers N D Pawar and Rohit Takawane states that in its report of July 11, 2012, the forensic science department had said that Siddiqui had consumed liquor (ethyl alcohol) before he was murdered and these facts have created serious doubts about his death and also on the investigations.
The plea states that the police have completed investigations and have filed a chargesheet and Mohol's detention was not essential as nothing was seized from him.
According to the plea, there are no eyewitnesses in the case and Mohol was falsely implicated in the case. It quotes the report of the prison superintendent given to the Yerawada police, which states that the jail guards had summoned a doctor on finding marks on Siddiqui's neck when they tried to wake him up, but he was proclaimed dead. The plea said the jail superintendent's report clearly rules out and contradicts the version of the complainant, Chandrakiran Tayde, a jail official, and other witnesses named in the chargesheet.
The Yerawada police had filed a chargesheet in court against Mohol and his aide Alok Bhalerao (23) on September 5, 2012. Siddiqui was allegedly strangled to death by Mohol and Bhalerao inside the high security 'anda' cell of the Yerawada central jail on June 8.
Siddiqui, who was facing charges of involvement in terror attacks in Bangalore, New Delhi and Pune, was arrested by the Delhi police on November 22, 2011. He was later handed over to the Maharashtra anti-terrorism squad on May 3 for investigations into an attempt to plant a bomb near Dagdusheth Ganapati temple on February 13, 2010; the same day when blast in German Bakery claimed the lives of 17 people and left 64 injured.
The Yerawada police's chargesheet said that Siddiqui, during a conversation with Bhalerao, had boasted of attempting to plant a bomb at Dagdusheth Ganapati temple for the second time if he was released from jail. It said that Bhalerao had told Mohol about Siddiqui's alleged plan, following which the duo conspired to murder him.
The chargesheet said that on June 8, Mohol and Bhalerao walked into Siddiqui's cell between 9.45am and 10am. Mohol used two drawstrings from a pair of shorts to strangle Siddiqui, while Bhalerao caught hold of the deceased's legs. Later, they burnt the drawstrings and threw its ashes in the toilet in an attempt to destroy evidence, the chargesheet stated.
Dhote had earlier rejected Bhalerao's bail plea.