Being a 'blast accused' for 14 years

Devidas Ghule, one of the accused in the 1993 Mumbai serial blasts case, has had to live with the tag of "blast accused" for fourteen years.

Ghule was charged with dumping RDX bags in Nagla Bunder.

The special TADA court formally acquitted him, along with 22 others, on May 9. And ironically, it spelt bad news for him.

Newspapers next day carried the news of formal acquittal of these 23 persons, with their photographs.

Then somebody called the person for whom Ghule was working as a driver, and pointed out that his name figured in the 1993 blasts case.

Ghule's employer, who worked with a private security agency, got worried and sacked him.

Now to prove his innocence, Ghule needs to procure a copy of the order, for which his lawyer Farhana Shah made an application to the court.

But the order is not yet signed, and Ghule will have to wait a few days more, Shah said.