Mumbai, Dec 01: Refusing to grant further extension of interim bail, a special court has directed 1993 bomb blast accused Parvez Zulfikar Qureshi to surrender to jail authorities on December 9 as the trial has reached its fag end. Qureshi, in custody for more than six years, was granted bail on April 24 by Judge P D Kode on a bond of Rs one lakh. However, he could not avail of liberty because the amount was not affordable. On his request, the court reduced the amount to Rs 75,000 and he secured liberty on May 24.
As the accused was undergoing treatment for peptic ulcers he urged for extension of bail from time to time. The court allowed his plea in the same bail amount but warned that he would not be given liberty after December 9 and would have to surrender thereafter.
Defence lawyer Subhash Kanse had urged for bail saying Qureshi's condition had deteriorated in the prison and he should be released on bail to undergo treatment in hospital.
Qureshi prayed that he had not misused his liberty on earlier occasions. He was granted interim bail from August 1998 to july 1999 and from march 2000 to janaury this year.
The court had earlier referred him to the medical board of the government-owned J J Hospital for a check up and asked the doctors to opine whether he could be treated in custody.
The board had opined that Qureshi's condition was better and that he could pull on with some tablets every day. As soon as the report was received, Qureshi was admitted to J J Hospital for eight days as he suffered acute pain. Thereafter, his interim bail was extended from time to time. Bureau Report