'Cops check inmates' privates and frisk us with same hands'

Firoz Khan, accused in the 1993 blasts case, raised a bizarre complaint at the Special TADA Court on Wednesday - he told the court that he found it revolting to be frisked in jail because the cops use the same hands to check the private parts of smugglers as well.

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Sources close to the accused said he was grossed out by the fact that the jail officials carried out cavity searches on some of the accused. "Around 400 accused are taken to court every day and brought back. Few of them are smugglers who hide drugs anywhere in the body. All these accused are checked inside and out by the police to see if they are carrying anything into the jail. Then even we are checked with the same hands," Khan told the court, adding that it feels dirty to be touch by those hands.

Khan, who also moved an application for a beard trimmer, told the court to tell jail authorities to do something about the body search. The other accused in the case, Mustafa Dossa and few others told the court that even though the jail has a machine to scan their food for contraband, the officers purposely put their ‘dirty hands' in the food to check for hidden items. The court, after hearing everyone, told the prosecution to call the jail authorities once to check on these complaints.

All the accused also asked the judge to visit the jail and see the problems they are facing.

Khan, who was arrested in February 2010, is allegedly a close aide of Dawood Ibrahim and played a key role in transporting and distributing the firearms and RDX used in the serial blasts that rocked Mumbai on March 12, 1993, killing 257 and injuring 700. TADA Judge PD Kode had concluded the trial against the original 123 accused, of whom 100 were convicted.

Currently, the court is hearing final arguments against the accused Abu Salem, Mustafa Dossa, Firoz Khan, Tahir Merchant, Riyaz Siddiqui, Karimullah Shaikh and Abdul Qayoom in a separate trial as they were arrested late.