PUNE: Nine years after a blast tore through German Bakery on February 13, 2010, the trial against prime accused and Indian Mujahideen (IM) mastermind Yasin Bhatkal is nowhere in sight.It has been held up over securing his physical presence before the special UAPA court in the city.Bhatkal, who is lodged in Delhi’s Tihar jail, is facing trials in several cases of bomb blasts across the country prior to his arrest in the case on March 13, 2014.The state Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) had nabbed only one suspect, Mirza Himayat Baig, whose death sentence by the Pune court was commuted to life imprisonment by the Bombay high court. The state’s appeal against it is pending before the Supreme Court.The ATS has no clue about the whereabouts of five other key suspects Mohsin Chowdhary, Riyaz Bhatkal, Iqbal Bhatkal, Fayyaz Kagzi and Zabiuddin Ansari all wanted in the case.Last October, the Pune court had rejected Bhatkal’s bail plea after his lawyer had argued for a default bail on the grounds that the matter had been deferred at least 80 times since his arrest.The ATS is now hoping that the court will take a call on February 16 on its plea to secure Bhatkal’s presence through video conferencing.ATS officials said,“We have obtained a production warrant from the special court on October 29, 2018 for seeking Bhatkal’s custody from Tihar jail to begin the trial in the bakery case but the issue of handing over his custody has been delayed for an indefinite period because of security reasons as he is facing trial in a string of terrorism cases. There is no progress in investigations in respect of absconding suspects in the blast case.”Assistant commissioner of police (crime) Bhanupratap Barge, one of the investigation officers in the bakery case. told TOI, “Bhatkal was convicted by the Hyderabad court in 2016. He is currently facing trial in the Jama Masjid bomb blast case of 2010 in New Delhi and other terrorism cases there. Bhatkal cannot be physically produced before the special court in Pune as of now. ATS had earlier filed a plea before the NIA court for securing his presence for framing charges in the bakery case. We have also requested the court for securing his presence from Tihar jail via video conferencing.”Bhatkal’s lawyer Zaheer Pathan told TOI, “The ATS does not seem to be serious in conducting a trial in the bakery case. The special court on October 29 had directed the state government to take necessary steps for expediting it. The court then deferred the hearing on four occasions but till date nothing has happened.”

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