Abdul Samad Bhatkal, whose arrest in an illegal arms seizure case and suspected link with German Bakery blast in Pune had created a controversy, was released from the Arthur Road Jail in Mumbai.
The release came nearly three weeks after he was granted bail.
On June 15, a court had granted bail to Samad, arrested in connection with an 2009 arms seizure case and alleged to be involved in the Pune blast case, saying there was no evidence against him.
23-year-old Samad, a resident of Bhatkal district near Mangalore in Karnataka, had filed a bail application in the court of Additional Sessions Judge S L Pathan claiming that he was not an accused in the arms case involving Chhota Shakeel for which he had been arrested.
Samad was picked up by Maharashtra's Anti-Terrorism Squad(ATS) on May 25 at Mangalore airport purportedly based on its look-out circular, after he returned from Dubai and immediately Union Home Ministry was informed about it.
He was charged with supplying of arms to three persons arrested from South Mumbai in August, 2009.
Samad's family claimed that he has been framed.
After the arrest of Samad, the ATS has not managed to find any substantial evidence against him to nail him in the Pune blast case.
Ironically, when he was arrested, he was touted as a "prize catch" in the Pune blast in which 17 persons were killed but later the ATS in its remand application filed in court mentioned that they did not need his custody in the case.
Further, the application did not mention anything about his involvement in the German Bakery blast.
Interestingly, on the day of his arrest, even Union home minister P Chidambaram had congratulated the ATS on making the first arrest in the Pune blast case raising questions whether the Centre was misled. But, later Chidambaram urged "caution". PTI
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