Coimbatore: Family members of S A Batcha, the key accused in the 1998 serial blasts and lodged in the Central Jail here, today sought his release as he has been serving jail term for the last two decades.

Batcha was arrested in connection with the blasts which claimed 58 lives during the visit of BJP leader L K Advani on February 14, 1998. He was sentenced to life-term.

As Tamil Nadu Government had released 67 prisoners, who had completed 10 years in jail, as part of late Chief Minister M G Ramachandran’s birth centenary, Batcha’s son Siddiq Ali and daughters Mubina and Ruksana, came to the office of District Collector and submitted a memorandum seeking release of their septuagenarian father on health grounds.

The family had already approached senior jail officials, who had asked them to petition the Collector.