Allahabad HC Grants Bail to Two Men Accused of Firing Shots at AIMIM Chief Asaduddin Owaisi

Prayagraj: The Allahabad High Court on Wednesday accorded bail to two men who had allegedly fired bullets at the All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) Chief and Lok Sabha Member of Parliament (MP) Asaduddin Owaisi's vehicle when the Uttar Pradesh assembly polls 2022 was underway, according to media reports. 

According to the Justice Pankaj Bhatia stated that accused Sachin Sharma and Subham Gurjar were not named in the First Information Report (FIR) and were connected with the offence only on the views given by the Investigating Officer after going through the CCTV footage, as per reports. 

The court said that the names of the accused did not appear in the three statements recorded so far. Beside, the victim as well as the two persons who were with him in the car did not know the accused.

“The material of verifying and matching the identity of the persons seen in the CCTV footage with the actual photographs prima-facie appears to be missing from the case diary. Thus, the evidences linking the applicants with the offence in question are prima-facie weak evidences at this stage,” said the Court.

However, it also clarified that the same would be seen during trial and any observation regarding the quality of the evidence might have an adverse effect on the trial.

The court noted that the accused were in detention since February 4, 2022 and admittedly have no criminal records. 

Earlier on February 3, 2022, Owaisi’s vehicle was fired upon near a toll plaza when he was travelling from Meerut to Delhi. He escaped unblemished but the attackers also escaped the spot immediately. An FIR was registered under Section 307 (attempt to murder) of India Penal Code (IPC). 

In July 2022, the accused was granted bail by the High Court. However, the Supreme Court later put away the bail orders and observed that offence's gravity was not taken into account by the High Court. The matter was then remanded for fresh adjudication.

An intervention application was moved by the informant and the victim while opposing the bail. It was submitted that after the grant of bail in 2022, one of the accused, had boasted before the media that the had no regret and would not apologize at all.  

The victim had been issued a warning by the accused in the interview, the court was told. The victim's side argued that the beside CCTV footage, the accused's presence had also been verified on the basis of call details records by the investigating Officer.

Considering the arguments, the Court said the interview “prima-facie appears to be in the realm of speech or interview given by applicant no.1 before the media and there being nothing more to suggest that actual threat was issued by the applicant to the victim”.

The Court ordered the release of the accused, finding a prima facie case made out for bail. 

Senior Advocate Saghir Ahmad and Advocate Rajesh Kumar Mishra represented the accused.

Advocate Azim Ahmad Kazmi represented the informant and victim.