'I lost the 10 most important years of my life'

When the ATS arrested Abdul Azim in 2006, he was 24, about to join a government job and ready to marry his girlfriend. Today, he is 34, jobless and with a cloud over his future

In 2006, a 24-year-old Abdul Azim alias Raja was roaring and ready to get married even as he was in line to take up a government job as a hospital driver. Things were looking good for Azim before his world turned upside down. The Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) arrested him in the Aurangabad arms haul case.

Also read: 2006 Aurangabad arms haul case: Abu Jundal, 11 others wanted to kill Narendra Modi, Pravin Togadia

Abdul Azim

At 34 now, he is one of the eight acquitted by the court, but has already spent 10 years and three months in jail waiting for the judgment. "The ATS ruined my life," says Azim, dressed in a red shirt and denims, in what is his first interview after the acquittal.

Also read: How the ATS cracked the 2006 Aurangabad arms haul case in three days

Talking to mid-day outside the court and accompanied by his elder brother, Azim recalls, "I had a private job with a tourism company. Later, with my experience, I applied for a government job and was working as an ambulance driver for a government-run hospital in Beed. The permanent order was scheduled to come in June 2006, but I got arrested in May. So I lost that job."

Blaming the ATS for wasting an important decade of his life, Azim said, "The 10 years that I spent in the jail were the most important ones. I was planning to marry my girlfriend. By now, I would have been settled with a family and built my career. Instead, I have no idea what even happened to her since we lost touch after my arrest and now I will have to start from ground zero."

He then recalls how he was not around for his father's last rites. "One thing I will always remember is that my father died in 2008 and I wasn't even granted parole so that I could attend his funeral."

However, with a hopeful eye on his future, Azim is in high spirits about the acquittal. "My brother has an NGO for widowed women and children. Thankfully, we had free legal aid from Jamiat Ulama-e-Hind for the most part, but because he was running around for my case and figuring out the finances for the lawyer to make the final arguments, he was unable to be completely active. Now that I am out of the jail though, my top priority is to help him with his NGO."

Azim was accused of driving the Tata Sumo that was intercepted by the ATS at Verul and contained the arms. He surrendered himself before the Mukundwadi Police Station on May 12, 2006.

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