Srinagar, Sep 16: A 17-year-old criminal case registered at Police Station Saddar, Srinagar, has ended with the acquittal of four persons after a Special Court held that the prosecution failed to establish the charges beyond reasonable doubt and found significant deficiencies in the evidence presented during the trial.
The judgment was pronounced on September 16 by Additional Sessions Judge, TADA/POTA, Special Judge designated under the NIA Act, Manjeet Rai. The case arose from FIR No. 254/2009 registered at Police Station Saddar and involved allegations relating to Cross-LoC trade, criminal conspiracy and alleged funding of the banned organisation Lashkar-e-Taiba.
The persons acquitted are Mushfiq Ahmad Lone, Vipin Kumar Sharma, Sanjeev Kumar Tandon and Zahoor Ahmad Dar. Proceedings against another accused, Suraj Prakash Badyal, had abated after his death on November 29, 2024.
The prosecution case alleged that money was being generated through Cross-LoC barter trade and channelled for unlawful activities. During the investigation, police claimed recovery of cash, a grenade and other articles, with the total cash seized stated in the judgment as ₹13.85 lakh.
However, the Court found that the prosecution case rested substantially on alleged disclosure statements, recoveries and call-detail records, while noting that there was no eyewitness to any alleged delivery of money and no money trail through bank accounts, account books or trade registers had been established.
The judgment records several shortcomings in the handling of the alleged recoveries. No independent witnesses were associated with the arrests or recoveries, while the seized currency was not sealed and its numbers were not recorded in the relevant seizure documents. The Court also noted that the grenade was neither properly sealed nor subjected to forensic or expert examination.
The prosecution witnesses also gave materially different accounts regarding the dates, locations and circumstances of arrests and recoveries. One witness turned hostile, while several witnesses were unable to identify the accused in court, according to the judgment.
The Court further found that the call-detail records relied upon by the prosecution did not meet the required evidentiary standards. The investigating officer admitted that the relevant certification had not been obtained and that the call records concerning Sanjeev Kumar Tandon had not been secured.
A significant issue concerned the nature of the Cross-LoC trade. The investigating officer admitted that it was a regulated barter system and that he had not examined the business or bank accounts of Vipin Kumar Sharma and Sanjeev Kumar Tandon to establish that the recovered money was unaccounted for. He also admitted that the investigation had not established a business connection between them and Mushfiq Ahmad Lone.
The defence for Vipin Kumar Sharma and Sanjeev Kumar Tandon was represented by Advocate Azhar-ul-Amin, along with Advocates Bilal Bhat and Hanan Hussain. The defence argued that the prosecution had failed to produce independent evidence connecting the two with the alleged conspiracy and that the recovered amounts had not been proved to be unlawful funds.
The Court also found that the prosecution had failed to establish the mandatory statutory requirements concerning sanction under the UAPA. The judgment records that no sanction order was proved in evidence and that the sanctioning authority was not examined.
Concluding that the prosecution had failed to prove the charges beyond reasonable doubt, the Court acquitted the four surviving accused of all charges.
The Court further ordered that the ₹13.85 lakh seized during the case, having not been proved to be proceeds of unlawful activities, be released to the persons from whom it was seized or their legal heirs, subject to the appeal period and any lawful restraint. [KNT]
