[Antilia Terror Scare Case] Bombay High Court sets Aside Special NIA Court's Decision Staying It's Own Bail Order For Bookie Naresh Gaur

The Bombay High Court on Wednesday paved the way for release of Naresh Gaur, the first recipient of bail in the Ambani Terror Scare and Mansukh Hiran Murder Case.Justice SK Shinde set aside the Special NIA court's decision to stay it's own order for 25 days, after granting him bail.The order was stayed at the National Investigation Agency's request to allow them to challenge bail granted to him in the High Court.Gaur, a cricket bookie is accused of supplying dummy sim cards used by his co-accused - dismissed cop Sachin Waze and former encounter specialist Pradeep Sharma. He was granted bail on November 20.Gaur through his lawyers approached the HC against the roznama of the Special Court in which the stay was recorded.In an appeal before the High Court, Gaur claimed that the special court wrongly invoked section 309 of the CrPC to grant NIA relief, which deals with the power to postpone proceedings.Senior counsel Shirish Gupte assisted by Advocate Noorain Patel for Diamondwala & Company argued that Gaur's fundamental right to freedom was overlooked.The NIA represented by Additional Solicitor General Anil Singh and Advocate Sandesh Patil raised a preliminary objection. They sought for the matter to be heard by a division bench citing section 21 of the NIA Act.However, Gupte said that the section did not specify anything.After pronouncement of the order on Wednesday the NIA sought a stay of this order. However, it was refused.Gaur was arrested in March 13, 2021 and booked under section 120B(conspiracy) and 403( dishonest misappropriation of property). Unlike Waze and six other, Gaur is not booked under the anti-terror Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act.The prosecution alleged that Waze met Gaur's boss and asked for dummy sim cards. On his boss's instructions Gaur arranged for the sim cards and handed them over to accused Vinayak Shinde, who in turn gave them to Waze and Sharma.The sim cards were allegedly used in the murder of businessman Mansukh Hiran, whose body was found in the Thane creek 10 days after the explosives and a threat letter were discovered in an abandoned vehicle near the Ambani residence, on February 25.Seeking bail for Gaur, his lawyer had argued that he (Gaur) was not informed about the purpose for procuring the sim card. Therefore, allegations of conspiracy were not applicable against him as the law mandated that every conspirator must be aware of the end object of conspiracy.

[Antilia Terror Scare Case] Bombay High Court sets Aside Special NIA Court's Decision Staying It's Own Bail Order For Bookie Naresh Gaur

Sharmeen Hakim

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