New Delhi: A Delhi court has acquitted five men accused of terror charges and being Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) members.
The court stated that mere recovery of cellphones and SIM cards used for communication with a Pakistani number is not sufficient to prove terror plot or conspiracy when there is no other evidence to prove such terror link, Bar and Bench reported.
Additional Sessions Judge Dharmender Rana was hearing the matter.
The five accused, namely Mohd Shahid, Mohd Rashid, Ashabuddin, Abdul Subhan and Arshad Khan, a Pakistani resident, were facing trial under Sections 120B of the Indian Penal Code and Sections 18, 18B and 20 of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act. They were exonerated by the court.
According to the Bar and Bench report, Judge Rana, after examining the statements of witnesses and law on conspiracy, highlighted “gaping holes” in the prosecution’s version of events. “Mere recovery of the mobile phones and SIM cards used to converse amongst each other or converse with a Pakistani number is not sufficient to prove the existence of any conspiracy. It is rightly pointed out by the defence counsel that there is nothing on record to establish that the above said Pakistani number belongs to the dreaded terrorist Javed Balluchi,” the Court held.
Moreover, the charge that the accused are LeT members was dealt with by the Court in the light of the intercepted calls, which it had already discarded. “Once the intercepted conversations available on record is discarded, there is no material available on record to connect accused persons with LeT. Therefore, I am convinced that prosecution has miserably failed to prove on record that accused persons were member of banned terrorist organisation Lashkar-e-Taiba and they accordingly deserves to be acquitted for the charge of offence punishable under Section 20 of UAPA,” the court stated.
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