Mokashi to defend 7/11,arms haul suspects

General secretary of Jamiat-e-Ulema Hind Gulzar Azmi said,“We approached Mokashi and he has agreed to defend the suspects in the case. We are also in talks with other senior lawyers and awaiting their replies. Since the court is on vacation,many of them are out of town. We hope those lawyers will give positive replies.”

The charges against the 13 suspects in the train blast case were framed by the court in August 2007,but the commencement of the trial had for sometime been delayed because the prime suspect,Kamal Ansari,had refused to engage any lawyer to defend him and argued that all the suspects wanted their trial transferred to another court. However,the prosecution had examined one witness in the case before the suspects moved the High Court and later the Supreme Court.

Mokashi had defended Ansari after his previous lawyer Shahid Azmi was murdered. He is also the special public prosecutor for the Crime Investigation Department (CID) in the Khwaja Yunus case.

When contacted,Mokashi said,“Yes,I’ve been appointed to defend the suspects. There are several accused in the case. So it is too early to say for whom all I would represent.”

On May 21,Mokashi would submit his Vakalatnama stating he would defend the suspects. “No development is expected on May 21. Prosecution might only seek summons for witnesses and suspects would be produced in person. I will meet suspects. A decision will be taken only after going through the voluminous chargesheet and consulting with the Jamiat”,Mokashi added.