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Antilia explosives scare: Bombay high court cancels stay on Naresh Gor’s bail – Hindustan Times

MUMBAI: The Bombay High Court on Wednesday set aside a special NIA court’s stay order on grant of bail to cricket bookie Naresh Gaur who was arrested by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) in connection with the Antilia explosives scare and the murder of Thane trader Mansukh Hiran.

Gor was accused of providing five SIM cards obtained on the basis of bogus documents to the alleged prime conspirator, Sachin Vaze, who is believed to have used some of these SIMs to communicate with other accused involved in killing the Thane trader.

Gor will be released as soon as the bail conditions are set and jail procedures for release are completed.

Gor, the first accused to be granted bail in the twin cases, approached the high court after the special NIA judge AT Wankhede granted him bail on November 20 but issued a second order on the request of NIA staying its decision. NIA wanted time to appeal against the bail order but did not file the petition.

Senior advocate Shirish Gupte and advocate Aniket Nikam, appearing for Gor, told justice Sandeep Shinde that once the special court granted bail to Gor on merits, it was not open for the judge to stay its own order.

During arguments in the high court, justice Shinde’s primary point to the NIA was whether a trial court judge has the power under section 309 (power to postpone or adjourn proceedings) or any other provision of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC) to stay his own order. The high court also asked what was the status of Gor’s detention after the stay of the judicial order.

On December 7, while responding to the court’s query, additional solicitor general Anil Singh and advocate Sandesh Patil appearing for NIA, sought to justify the special court’s stay and said that Gor’s petition was not maintainable as he had the remedy of appealing against the trial court’s order.

On Wednesday, justice Shinde struck down the special NIA court’s order staying bail granted to Gor and also rejected NIA’s request to stay the operation of the high court order. The reasoned order will be available in due course.

Gor was arrested in March 2021 and has been in jail after his interrogation was over. He first applied for bail in August 2021 but it was rejected on the grounds that the investigation was still continuing and the charge sheet was not filed.

In September 2021, after the NIA filed the charge sheet, Gor filed another bail request claiming that he was not aware of the larger conspiracy in the case and was being made a scapegoat at the behest of Vaze.

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Source: https://www.hindustantimes.com/cities/mumbai-news/antilia-explosives-scare-bombay-high-court-cancels-stay-on-naresh-gaur-s-bail-101638961401308.html