Octogenarian Pakistani prisoner Mohammad Khalil Chisti, serving a life sentence for murder, stepped out of the Ajmer Central Jail in Rajasthan Wednesday on conditional bail, his family members said.
“I am very happy and grateful to those who made efforts for my release. I would like to go to my home in Pakistan as soon as possible and meet my family members,” Chisti, 80, told media persons outside the jail. He expressed a wish to offer prayers at the dargah of Sufi saint Khwaja Moinuddin Chisti.
He was released after completing formalities at a court here regarding his conditional bail that was granted to him by the Supreme Court Monday. The apex court order had Tuesday evening reached the district court in Ajmer, about 150 km from the state capital.
Chisti’s younger brother Jameel Chisti told: “We arranged two witnesses, handed over his passport and filed an affidavit in the district court saying that he would not leave India, following which the bail was granted by the fast track court Judge Kamal Prakash Saxena. He was released on a bail bond of Rs.50,000.”
Chisti, a virologist in the Karachi Medical College, was sentenced to life imprisonment last January after a 18-year-long trial in a murder case. He moved the Rajasthan High Court against the lower court’s verdict, but his plea was rejected.
Due to his poor health, he was taken out of the court in an ambulance. Sources in the jail said that Chisti thanked other inmates and jail officials for their help and taking care of him. He also offered prayers at the jail before leaving.
He reached his younger brother Jameel’s residence in the dargah area’s Jhalara region. As the news of his conditional bail’s approval spread, his family members and many social activists were jubilant.
“We are very happy that Chisti is out of jail. It could be for a while, but at least we will be able to take care of his ill health,” said Jaleel, who lives in Chisti’s ancestral house in Ajmer’s dargah area.
Chisti and some others had been accused of killing a man, identified as Irshid, in a fight in April 1992. Chisti was on a visit to Ajmer for offering prayers at the dargah at the time.
