Delhi District Court
State vs . (1) Abdul Baki Mandal, on 27 April, 2009
IN THE COURT OF SMT. PRATIBHA RANI,
ADDL. SESSIONS JUDGE-01(CENTRAL),
TIS HAZARI COURTS, DELHI
SC No.153/07
State Vs. (1) Abdul Baki Mandal,
S/o Sh. Mohd. Mohsin Ali
Mandal,
R/o Village & P.O. Gacha,
PS Bashir Hat,
Distt. North 24 Pargana,
West Bengal
FIR No.146/05
U/S : 18/19/20 of Unlawful
Activities (Prevention) Act.
PS : Special Cell
Date of Institution : 8.2.2006
Arguments heard on : 24.4.09
Order pronounced on : 25.4.09
***
JUDGMENT
In brief, the case of the prosecution is that in the month of July, 2005 there was a Fidayeen attack by militants at Ram Janam Bhumi-Babri Masjid site in Ayodhaya in which five militants were gunned down by the Security Forces and from the possesion of one of the deceased militants, one mobile phone was recovered. To work out the conspiracy and the outfits involved in the Fidayeen Attack, a team was constituted and from the scanning of date and its subsequent analysis, it was revealed that the terrorists involved in the Ayodhaya attack had 1 also set up their base in Delhi. To further develop this information, sources were deployed in Delhi and Jammu- Kashmir to unearth this conspiracy and through the technical surveillance and scanning of data, it was revealed that the Fidayeen Attack on Ayodhaya was the handiwork of the banned terrorist outfit Jaish-e-Mohammad and it was using Delhi as a transit point between Bangladesh and Jammu-Kashmir and had also set up their module in Delhi and this module had provided shelter to many terrorists of JeM who were involved in several terrorist attack in India. From the technical surveillance, it was revealed that one Abdul Baki @ Raju, resident of West Bengal used to ferry the militants from Bangladesh to their safe hideouts in Delhi and vice versa and that one Amir, resident of Assam was also instrumental in providing hideouts to the JeM militants in Delhi and adjoining areas. This information was discussed with senior officers and a team consisting of SI Kailash Bisht and HC Bijender Singh were sent to West Bengal to identify and keep a secret watch on the movements of Abdul Baki @ Raju. HC Satender was also sent on 5.11.2005 to assist the team already deployed there. On 10.11.2005, on the basis of information received from SI Kailash Bisht that Abdul Baki had come to Hawrah Station and purchased a ticket for Delhi bound train No.2381 Purva Express, it was recorded in Daily diary and 2 discussed with senior officers. Thereafter a team under the supervision of ACP Sanjeev Kumar Yadav headed by Inspector Badrish Dutt consisting of Inspector Mohan Chand Sharma, SI Sanjay Dutt, SI Vijay Tyagi, SI Rakesh Malik, SI Pawan Kumar, ASI Vikram, SI Rajpal Dabas, ASI Shahjahan and constables was formed. After ascertaining the time of arrival of Purva Express at New Delhi Railway Station, the raiding party left for New Delhi Railway Station and the team members were deployed on Ajmeri Gate side as well as Pahar Ganj side as the train was to arrive at Platform No.6.
2. After the train arrived, SI Kailash Bisht pointed out towards the accused Abdul Baki who came out of the General Compartment which was located at the rear end of the train and it was decided to follow him secretly. After getting down from the train, the accused came out of the New Delhi Railway Station from Ajmeri Gate site and proceeded towards Bus Stop. Suddenly he started running towards Mintoo Road and he was apprehended after being chased. He was interrogated and his identity was revealed as Abdul Baki Mandal, resident of Village and P.O. Gacha, Bashir Hat, Distt. North 24 Pargana, West Bengal and that he was member of the banned terrorist organization Jaish-E-Mohammad (JeM) and had come to Delhi on the direction of his handler in Bangladesh namely Anwar @ 3 Jubed. During investigation, it was revealed that he had illegally brought many terrorists of JeM from Bangladesh to Delhi including the terrorist involved in Ram Janam Bhumi-Babri Masjid attack in July, 2005. Matter was brought to the notice of senior officers and on the basis of interrogation of the accused, case FIR No.146/05 under Sec.18/19/20 of Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act was registered against the accused. During investigation of this case, his police remand was sought and on 17.11.2005, at the instance of accused Abdul Baki Mandal, three identity cards were recovered, one of which was of accused Abdul Baki Mandal issued by JeM and two other identity card issued from Karachi, Pakistan belonging to Militants of JeM who were helped by the accused in illegally crossing over in India. On the basis of disclosure statement of accused Abdul Baki Mandal, other accused persons namely Amir Ali, Nafiq-Ul- Biswas, Sohag Khan @ Hilal, Nadir and Mohd. Ibrahim were also arrested, however while filing the chargesheet, as no substantive material could be found against accused Nafiq-Ul- Biswas, Sohag Khan @ Hilal, Nadir and Mohd. Ibrahim, they were got discharged and accused Abdul Baki Mandal and Amir Ali were sent to face trial for the offence punishable under Sec. Sec.18/19/20 of Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act.
3. After compliance of the requirements of Section 207 4 CrPC, the case was committed to the Court of Sessions.
4. After hearing on the point of charge, vide order dated 14.3.2007, accused Amir Ali was discharged. However, accused Abdul Baki Mandal was charged only for the offence punishable under Sec.20 of Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967 to which he pleaded not guilty and claimed trial.
5. Prosecution has examined seven witnesses in all in support of its case. Accused has also been examined under Sec.313 CrPC to enable him to explain about the evidence appearing against him wherein he has denied the case of prosecution and stated that he was arrested from Hawrah Railway Station by police officials of Special Cell four months prior to his arrest in this case. One other person who was barber by profession was also brought from Hawrah whose name he did not remember. He was detained in Special Cell for four months and thereafter falsely implicated in this case. Three-four other boys from Assam were also detained in the Special Cell and after four months, he and one other person Amir were sent to Jail and others were released. He was brought by the police of Special Cell on the pretext of making some inquiries but he was falsely implicated in this case. He has further stated that infact he was picked up by the police at New Delhi Railway Station before four months of his arrest and during this period, he was forced to 5 work for Special Cell in Bangladesh and on his refusal, he was implicated in this case. Accused has not led any evidence in his defence.
6. On behalf of accused, written submissions have been filed by Sh. M.S. Khan, Advocate. Sh. S.C. Sharma, Addl. PP has also made submissions on behalf of State.
7. PW-1 ASI Raj Singh is the Duty Office who has stated that on 1.11.2005 at about 12.15 pm he received rukka sent by Inspector Badrish Dutt through SI Vinay Tyagi on the basis of which he recorded FIR No.146/05. He has proved the carbon copy of FIR as Ex.PW1/A and his endorsement made by him on the rukka as Ex.PW1/B.
8. PW-4 Sh. Vinay Kumar, Addl. District Magistrate has stated that on 6.2.2006 he was working as Dy. Secretary (Home), Govt. of NCT of Delhi and on that day, as Hon'ble Lt. Governor had granted sanction for the institution of criminal proceedings against the accused persons Abdul Baki Mandal and Amir Ali for committing the offence punishable under Sec.18/19/20 of Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, he, by order and in the name of the Lt. Governor of NCT of Delhi, conveyed the sanction of the Hon'ble Lt. Governor vide order Ex.PW4/A bearing his signature at point-A and sent the same to the police.
9. PW-5 Sh. Sanjay Singh, CO, Milky Pur, Distt.
6 Faizabad, U.P. has stated that a case u/s 147/148/149/307/ 353/153/153-A/153-B/302/295/120-B IPC and 16/18/19/20 of Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act was registered vide FIR No.157/05 at PS Ram Janam Bhumi, Distt. Faizabad, UP and he has proved the photocopy of the FIR No.157/05 PS Ram Janam Bhumi as Ex.PW5/A.
10. PW-6 Inspector Kailash Bisht is the material witness who identified and kept secret watch on accused Abdul Baki, hence it is proper to refer to his statement before discussing the testimony of other witnesses who apprehended him from New Delhi Railway Station. As per statement of PW-6 Inspector Kailash Bisht, in the month of July, 2005 there was a Fidayeen Attack at Ram Janam Bhumi site in Ayodhaya in which five Fidayeen Militants were gunned down by security forces and from one of the slain militant, mobile phone was recovered. He has further stated that to work out the conspiracy of the terrorist outfit, a team headed by Inspector Mohan Chand Sharma was formed and in order to develop the information, secret sources were deployed and through the technical surveillance and scanning, it was revealed that the attack on Ayodhaya was handiwork or banned terrorist outfit Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) which was also using Delhi as a transit point between Bangladesh and Jammu & Kashmir and have set up their 7 modules in Delhi to provide shelter to the Fidayeen Militants. It was also revealed through technical surveillance that one Abdul Baki @ Raju, resident of West Bengal used to carry the militants from Bangladesh to their safe hideouts at Delhi and vice versa. After discussing the information with the senior officers, he alongwith HC Bijender was sent to West Bengal to identify and keep secret watch on the movement of Abdul Baki @ Raju. They reached Kolkatta and deployed their sources in and around Kolkatta in West Bengal and on 5.1.2005 HC Satender also joined them. On 9.11.2005 the already deployed informer in Bashir Hat, Distt. North 24 Pargana, West Bengal informed that the said Abdul Baki Mandal was planning to leave for Delhi on 10.11.2005, so he alongwith the team members identified the above Abdul Baki Mandal with the help of secret informer and it was also revealed that the above Abdul Baki Mandal would be boarding Purva Express from Hawrah Railway Station. On 10.11.2005 he informed to Senior Officers that Abdul Baki Mandal @ Raju had come to Hawrah Station and had bought railway ticket for Delhi and boarded train No.2381 Purva Express. As per the instruction of senior officers he alongwith other team members carefully followed him and also informed the senior officers that Abdul Baki Mandal had boarded the general compartment of Purva Express which was located in the 8 rear end of the train and was following the movement of the said Abdul Baki in the train. He has further stated that on 11.11.2005 at about 8.45 am, train Purva Express entered Platform No.6, New Delhi Railway Station and Abdul Baki Mandal got down from the general compartment with black colour canvas bag. He pointed out the accused to the team members present at the platform No.6 including Inspector Mohan Chand Sharma and Inspector Badrish Dutt. Abdul Baki Mandal came out from the Railway Station from Ajmeri Gate side and started walking towards the bus stop and when accused started running towards Mintoo Road he was chased and apprehended near the IN gate of Ajmeri Gate side of the Railway Station. On cursory interrogation, his name and address was revealed as Abdul Baki Mandal @ Baku @ Raju S/o Mohd. Mohsil Ali Mandal R/o Village & P.O. Gacha, PS Bashir Haat, Distt. North, 24 Pargana, West Bengal. On further inquiry, accused Abdul Baki Mandal disclosed that he was member of banned Terrorist organization Jaish-e-Mohammad and had come to Delhi on the direction of his handler in Bangladesh namely Anwar @ Jubed. Accused also informed that he was directed to take two Militants of Jaish- e-Mohammad from Delhi and to safely take them across the border to Bangladesh. He further disclosed that he had brought illegally many terrorists of Jaish-e-Mohammad from Bangladesh 9 to Delhi and that he had also brought the Fidayeen Militants involved in Ayodhaya Attack. PW-6 Inspector Kailash has further stated that facts were communicated to senior officers and at about 10.30 am accused Abdul Baki Mandal was taken to the office of Special Cell, Lodhi Colony for further interrogation. Inspector Badrish Dutt prepared the rukka and handed over the same to SI Vinay Tyagi for registration of the case. After the case was registered, the further investigation of this case was entrusted to Sh. Sanjeev Yadav, ACP/NDR, Special Cell who also interrogated the accused and after sufficient evidence, accused Abdul Baki Mandal was arrested vide arrest memo Ex.PW3/D and his body inspection memo Ex.PW6/A and personal search memo Ex.PW3/E were prepared. The bag of the accused was seized vide memo Ex.PW3/A and some documents recovered from the possession of accused were also seized vide seizure memo Ex.PW3/B. Accused Abdul Baki Mandal also made disclosure statement Ex.PW3/C. He has identified the black colour bag containing some clothes as Ex.P4 and the documents i.e. two STD slips, pocket diary and railway ticket Ex.P5 (colly) to be the same which were recovered from the accused.
11. PW-2 Inspector Badrish Dutt had also deposed about formation of team headed by Inspector Mohan Chand Sharma 10