The Bengaluru police have filed an attraction within the Supreme Court docket in opposition to a latest Karnataka Excessive Court docket resolution to acquit three folks in a 2012 terrorism case, together with a Pakistani nationwide whose deportation was ordered after the acquittal.
On September 25 this 12 months, the Karnataka Excessive Court docket had acquitted Syed Abdul Rehaman, 36, Apsar Pasha, 43, and Pakistani nationwide Mohammed Fahad alias Md Koya, 42, in a case filed underneath the Illegal Actions (Prevention) Act, the Indian Penal Code, the Arms Act, and the Explosive Substances Act.
The excessive court docket had overturned a February 2023 conviction order of a particular court docket for terrorism circumstances in opposition to Fahad, who has been in jail since 2006 over a earlier terrorism conspiracy case; Pasha, a convict from a 2006 terror case; and Rehaman, who was beforehand an undertrial prisoner within the Bengaluru jail.
Fahad and Pasha are accused of terrorism by the Bengaluru police for allegedly indoctrinating Rehaman in jail to hold out terrorist acts and guiding him to acquire a gun and explosives by way of alleged Lashkar-e-Toiba hyperlinks offered by the duo in 2012.
The Bengaluru police’s transfer to file an attraction within the Supreme Court docket on November 29 in opposition to their acquittal is predicted to halt Fahad’s deportation. Fahad was first arrested in 2006 in Mysuru and has been housed in a state detention centre following the excessive court docket order for his acquittal and deportation to Pakistan.
The 2012 terrorism case
Within the terrorism case introduced in opposition to Mohammed Fahad, Apsar Pasha and Syed Abdul Rehaman in 2012, the Bengaluru police alleged that Rehaman, who was in jail for theft, was indoctrinated in jail by Fahad and Pasha to take up terrorism. It was alleged that after Rehaman was launched on bail, Fahad and Pasha stayed in contact with him by cellphone and guided him to contact associates based mostly overseas to get a gun and explosive supplies.
The particular court docket for terrorism circumstances in Bengaluru upheld the proof positioned in court docket by the Central Crime Department of the Bengaluru police to award a life sentence to the trio for prison conspiracy, with smaller punishments prescribed for the offences of terrorism and coping with explosives, arms and many others.
The excessive court docket division bench, nevertheless, overruled the trial court docket on the grounds that the cost of prison conspiracy wouldn’t maintain since a jail superintendent had said in court docket that no cellphone utilization was allowed within the jail.
“It’s true that CDR [call data record] evaluation made by PW16 [prosecution witness 16] reveals telephonic communication amongst themselves. As deposed by PW26, there are certificates issued underneath part 65B of the Indian Proof Act in respect of CDRs. However by contemplating the CDRs, no inference as to conspiracy may be drawn. Accused No.1 got here out of jail on 31.12.2011, and the opposite two remained in jail. This isn’t disputed. If accused Nos.2 and three remained in jail, an apparent doubt as to how they might talk with accused No.1 would come up,” the excessive court docket noticed.
The excessive court docket stated that the cross-examination of the chief superintendent, Central Jail, Gulbarga, had proven that there was no report of utilization cell phones by Pasha and Fahad within the jail and “if there have been to be any telephonic conversations as said by PW21, they have to be unlawful conversations from which inference as to existence of conspiracy is tough to be drawn, as a result of PW21 has additionally said that accused No.1 had obtained a name from a Gulf nation and in addition from an individual referred to as ‘Bhai’ from Pakistan,” the HC identified.
The excessive court docket additionally thought of the truth that the sanction process for circumstances underneath UAPA had not been strictly adhered to by the house division whereas acquitting the trio of terror costs.
The excessive court docket acquitted Rehaman of the conspiracy and terrorism offences however maintained his conviction underneath some sections of the Arms Act and Explosive Substances Act. Fahad and Pasha had been acquitted of all offences. The excessive court docket additionally stated that Fahad “shall be deported to Pakistan after his launch from jail”.
“Quickly after the excessive court docket order of September 25, Fahad was launched from jail and housed in a detention centre for deportation. The submitting of the attraction within the SC would imply that the deportation course of must be halted till the SC case abates,” a police supply stated.
Mohammed Fahad: An 18-year prison file
Mohammed Fahad has an 18-year historical past in crime data in Karnataka and Kerala. He was first arrested in October 2006 in Mysore as a 24-year-old on costs of being an agent of the Pakistan intelligence providers assigned the duty of making a base for a bunch referred to as Al Badr.
Fahad was arrested by the Mysuru police in 2006 based mostly on central intelligence inputs. A grasp’s diploma holder in analytical chemistry, the Pakistani nationwide has ancestral roots within the Kozhikode area in north Kerala. He was accused of being in India to arrange a hideout and logistics for a terror group.
Fahad was convicted and sentenced to 10 years in jail in April 2021 after he had been in jail for 15 years. He remained in jail on account of the next offence registered in 2012 by the Bengaluru Central Crime Department police for allegedly radicalising Rehaman in jail the place he was convicted on February 23, 2023, to life imprisonment.
Fahad was additionally accused in a Foreigners Act case in 2006 in Kozhikode and was sentenced to eight years in jail in 2021. He was additionally accused by the Enforcement Directorate of cash laundering and was convicted to seven years of jail for the offence in 2017.
