A Pakistani court on Wednesday rejected the bail plea of a woman arrested in connection with the blast outside Mumbai attack mastermind and JuD chief Hafiz Saeed's house in Lahore.
Three people were killed and over 20 others injured in the blast outside Saeed's Jauhar town residence on June 23 that also damaged a number of houses, shops and vehicles in the area.
The woman suspect - Ayesha Bibi - had filed a post-arrest petition in the Lahore High Court last month with a plea that she has no connection with the blast and police have no plausible grounds to arrest her.
"A two-member bench headed by Justice Asjad Javed of Lahore High Court heard the petition of Ayesha Bibi who was arrested by the Counter Terrorism Department (CTD) of Punjab police for being a 'facilitator' of the alleged terrorists involved in the blast (outside Saeed's residence in Lahore)," a court official told PTI.
Ayesha's counsel Advocate Fida Hussain told the court that she had no connection with the Lahore blast as she was not present at the crime scene.
"Ayesha Bibi has no connection with the arrested terrorists in the Lahore blast. The investigation in this case has been completed and no recovery is made from his client," he argued and requested the court to grant her bail as she will continue cooperating with the investigators.
The law officer contended that the suspect (Ayesha) is one of the facilitators in the blast as the CTD has evidence in this respect. He said the bail to the suspect would hamper the investigation into the case.
The official said after hearing arguments from both sides the bench rejected the bail plea of Ayesha Bibi.
The terrorist who planted explosives in the car and parked it near Saeed's house has been identified as Eid Gul who belongs to banned Tahreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP). Peter Paul David's car was used in the blast.
The Punjab government claimed to have unearthed the network of all "10 Pakistani suspects" involved in the blast.
"However, the law enforcement agencies had arrested four suspects -- Peter Paul David, Eid Gul, Ayesha Bibi and one other. The trial of the case has yet to begin," an official source in the Punjab police had told PTI.
The CTD has yet to complete the challan of the case despite a passage of over six months. The trial of the case could not kick off because of incomplete investigation.
Saeed, chief of the banned Jamaat-ud-Dawah (JuD) has been serving jail sentence at the Kot Lakhpat Jail Lahore for his conviction in terror financing cases. There were unconfirmed reports that Saeed was present at his house when the blast took place.
The 71-year-old radical cleric and a UN-designated terrorist, whom the US has placed a USD 10 million bounty on, has been convicted for 36 years imprisonment in five terror financing cases. His punishment is running concurrently.
Saeed-led JuD is the front organisation for the Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) which is responsible for carrying out the 2008 Mumbai attack that killed 166 people, including six Americans.
The US Department of the Treasury has designated Saeed as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist. He was listed under the UN Security Council Resolution 1267 in December 2008.
The global terror financing watchdog Financial Action Task Force (FATF) is instrumental in pushing Pakistan to take measures against terrorists roaming freely in the country and using its territory to carry out attacks in India.
