102 witnesses examined, 1 left for last trial on Dec 3

The last person to be examined for the German Bakery blast trial will be investigation officer Assistant Commissioner of Police Vinod Satav from the Anti-Terrorism Squad, Pune, on December 3. Some 102 witnesses have been examined over the last one year for the trial.

On Saturday, the 102nd witness — inspector Dinesh Parshuram Kadam (36) from Mumbai ATS — was cross-examined by defence lawyers A Rehman. As stated in his examination-in-chief, Kadam reiterated that the person seen in CCTV footage of German Bakery carrying two havesacks is Yasin Bhatkal and not Abdul Samad, as some media reports had appeared earlier. He said, "My specific statement that the person in CCTV footage was Yasin Bhatkal was not recorded." Kadam added that Samad was never arrested in bakery blast and was never discharged from this case.

The trial in the case had begun on November 8. The witnesses who have been examined included an autorickshaw driver who had allegedly ferried Baig and absconding accused Yasin Bhatkal from Pune station to Pune central on Bundgarden Road, owner of the Bakery Smita Kharose, witnesses from Beed who had met Baig, Baig's roommate while they were studying at Azam campus and so on. Special public prosecutor Thakare had submitted evidence of 41 witnesses who were of formal nature (not a witness to the offence or not seen the accused -like injured, relatives of dead) through affidavits signed by the witnesses, to save the time of the court.

The German Bakery blast which had taken place on February 13, 2010 had killed 17 persons and injured 64. While Mirza Himayat Inayat Baig is the lone accused arrested in this case, six others — Mohsin Choudhary, Ahmed Sidhhibappa alias Yasin Bhatkal, Riyaz Bhatkal, Iqbal Bhatkal, Faiyaz Kagzi and Zabiuddin Ansari — are absconding.

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