Within days after Mirza Himayat Baig, the lone convict in the 2010 German Bakery blast case, sought his transfer from Pune’s Yerwada jail to Arthur Road prison in Mumbai for safety reasons, the Bombay High Court on Monday directed the Maharashtra Government to shift him to the central jail in Nagpur, instead the one in the state capital.
Hearing a petition filed by Baig seeking his transfer to Arthur Road prison in Mumbai on the contention that he feared threat to life at the Pune jail, a HC Bench headed by Justice VM Kanade ordered that the lone German Bakery blast accused be moved to the Nagpur jail instead of the one in Mumbai.
The HC Bench also ordered the Pune Jail Superintendent to ensure Baig’s safety until he was transferred to the Nagpur jail. Baig was sentenced to death by a Pune court on April 18, 2013 on four major counts, including murder and conspiracy, in the February 13, 2010 German Bakery blast, in which 17 persons were killed and 60 others injured.