Dr. S. Muralidhar, who was the Chief Justice of Odisha High Court, has now become a lawyer. As a lawyer in the Bombay High Court, he has started fighting the case for two terrorists convicted in the Mumbai local blast. Muralidhar has said that the investigation into the Mumbai local blast case that took the lives of more than 180 people was biased and there was no evidence against the culprits. He has given these arguments in favor of the two accused of the blast, Muzammil Ataur Rehman Shaikh and Zameer Ahmed Latifur Rehman Shaikh. He has described both of them as innocent.
Innocent people who carried out local blast: Muralidhar
Advocate Muralidhar presented his arguments in this case in the Bombay High Court on Monday (January 13, 2025). Muralidhar claimed that in such cases the police investigate under pressure and many times the terror accused are released from jail after years. Muralidhar claimed that the convicts in the Mumbai local blast case have been locked up for 17 years and crucial years of their lives have passed. Muralidhar claimed that all those convicted in the Mumbai local blast case were ‘innocent’ and innocent.
Advocate Muralidhar also claimed that the investigating agencies do not have any concrete evidence in this case. He said that the investigating agencies have failed earlier also but the court can now correct it and release them. He also blamed the media in such cases. He claimed that the police already assume the people caught in such cases guilty and then the investigation becomes messy. Advocate Muralidhar claimed that we have many such cases.
Advocate Muralidhar said in the court, “There are statements and evidence of witnesses and accused that they were forced to testify. The family and relatives of the accused were also beaten and tortured. For example, the evidence throughout the Panchnama was false. It is alleged that these people used RDX to make the bomb, but there is no evidence as to who brought the RDX, who helped them in making the bomb.”
180+ people were killed
In the Mumbai local blast case, this case is being fought by lawyer Muralidhar Muzammil Attaur Rahman Shaikh and Zameer Ahmed Latifur Rahman, who have been sentenced to life imprisonment by a court. One of them is from Bangalore and one from Mumbai. 10 more people were convicted along with him in this case. Of these, 5 were sentenced to death while 7 were sentenced to life imprisonment. He has appealed against his sentence in the Bombay High Court.
These blasts took place on July 11, 2006 in local trains of Mumbai. Of these, 7 trains were targeted and pressure cooker and IED bombs were kept in all of them. These bombs exploded in the evening when people were returning to their homes. 187 people were killed and more than 700 were injured in this blast. These were the biggest serial blasts in the country before 26/11. After these blasts, police and ATS arrested 13 people, out of which 12 were sentenced.
Muralidhar remained surrounded by questions while being a judge
In the year 2022, filmmaker Vivek Agnihotri accused S Muralidhar, then Delhi High Court Justice, of being biased in the Bhima Koregaon case.Was accusedWas. His allegation was on Justice Muralidhar’s decision to cancel the transit remand and house arrest of Gautam Navlakha.
however,Bar and Bench RepoAccording to RT, on December 6, 2022, Vivek Agnihotri had unconditionally apologized to the Delhi High Court for the comments made against Justice Muralidhar. On this allegation, the Delhi High Court had filed a contempt case against Agnihotri and former Reserve Bank of India director S Gurumurthy in 2018.
It is noteworthy that Pune Police had detained Navlakha from Delhi in August 2018 in the Bhima Koregaon case and had taken transit remand to take him to Maharashtra for house arrest. In October that year, Justice Muralidhar canceled this transit remand and ordered Navlakha to be released from house arrest. Let us tell you that Justice Muralidhar became the Chief Justice of Orissa High Court in the year 2021 and retired on August 7, 2023.