KARACHI, Jan 25: Two witnesses who appeared before an ATC judge inside Central Prison, Karachi, on Saturday in a bomb blast case deposed that they had seen the accused, a worker of the banned Harkatul Mujahideen Aalmi, coming out of the building after planting the device.

Judge Feroze Mehmood Bhatti of the ATC-2, who is conducting the trial fixed Jan 28 for the next hearing after the statements of Feroze Khan, a rickshaw driver, and Alam Sher, a taxi driver.

The two witnesses also identified Mohammed Ahmed Daniyal, charged with planting two explosives devices in a religious building in Pirabad.

The members of the Ismaili community were holding the function of their spiritual leader in the building where one of the devices exploded, injuring a few people and damaging some motorcycles.

The rickshaw driver stated that he had taken passengers to the building and was waiting for their return when four men on two bikes came there. The pillion-riders, each carrying a bag, went into the building and returned after a short while, he stated.

The prosecution witness, who also identified Daniyal as one

of the two pillion-riders, stated that he heard the accused as telling his accomplices that “the task has been done”.

The taxi driver, who was also waiting for passengers near the spot, deposed that he did not see the accused going into the building. However, he said he saw him coming out of the building and there was a big bang as the accused fled. The Pirabad police had initially registered the case against unknown culprits on Dec 13, 2001.