Zeenews Bureau
New Delhi: Eighty-year-old ailing Pakistani microbiologist Mohammed Khaleel Chishty, serving life term in
an Ajmer jail in Rajasthan in a murder case of 1992, was today
granted bail by the Supreme Court.
A bench of justices P Sathasivam and J Chelameswar granted
him the reprieve, considering his old age and the fact that he
has been held up in India for the last 20 years after a murder
case was lodged against him when he came on a visit to Ajmer.
The court also agreed to hear Chishty's plea to allow him
to go back to Karachi and asked him to file a separate
application for it.
The bench, however, asked Chishty not to leave Ajmer till
further orders.
"We are satisfied that a case is made out for enlargement
on bail," the bench said while passing the order.
Chishty was granted bail a day after his case was
discussed between the authorities of the two countries during
Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari visit to India.
Chishty, a former professor of virology and microbiology, was born in Ajmer to a prosperous family of caretakers of the Khwaja Moinuddin Chishti shrine, was studying in Pakistan at the time of partition in 1947.
After partition, he did not return to his home town till March 1992 when he came visiting his mother. However, he was arrested on charges of alleged involvement in a murder and was given a life term on January 31, 2011 by a trial court.
An appeal for the suspension of the sentence filed by Chishty in the Rajasthan High Court was rejected on the ground that he was a Pakistani national and "no leniency" could be shown in his case
With PTI inputs
First Published: Monday, April 09, 2012, 12:47