Shift German Bakery blast convict Baig to Nagpur jail: HC tells Maharashtra

MUMBAI: The Bombay high court on Monday directed the Maharashtra government to shift Himayat Baig, the lone accused convicted in the 2010 German Bakery blast case facing death sentence, to the Nagpur central jail.
Hearing a petiton by Baig that he faces a threat to his life in the Yerwada jail where he is presently lodged, a division bench of justice VM Kanade and justice AR Joshi asked the Nagpur jail authorities to ensure his security.
Baig was shifted to Yerwada jail from Arthur Road jail last December. His lawyer Mehmood Parcha claimed that Baig feared that his life was in danger and he may be killed like his co-accused in the case, Qateel Siddiqui, of the Indian Mujahideen, who was found murdered in his cell in Yerdwada prison in June 2012. Baig also claimed that some people had attacked him in the jail last month.
The jail authorities said that Baig was shifted as the Arthur Road jail was over crowded and he was safe at Yerwada. Baig is the lone convict in the case relating to the bomb blast inside the German Bakery in Pune on February 13, 2010, that killed 17 persons, including five foreign nationals and, injured 58 others. A sessions court in April 2013 had sentenced Baig to death. The state's plea to confirm the death sentence and Baig's petiton challenging his conviction is pending before the high court.