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Ahmedabad: A special designated court has discharged three accused from Akshardham terror attack case after finding no fresh evidence against them. The acquittal is based on the Supreme Court's judgement of 2014 when it held previous six accused innocent while discarding Gujarat police's investigation.
Designated Prevention of Terrorism Act (POTA) judge Hemang R Rawal pronounced the order on January 17, discharging Abdul Sulaiman Ajmeri, Mohammad Farooq Muhammad Hanif Shaikh and Mohammad Yasin alias Yasin Bhatt. The court held that the prosecution didn't have any fresh material in the case which were not examined in the apex court.
The trio were arrested separately in 2017, 2018 and 2019 and chargesheets were filed before the POTA court. Subsequently, they filed the discharge application on the ground that police didn't have any fresh evidence not examined in the apex court in 2014. The prosecution opposed the application but admitted that there was no new evidence against them.
The court order narrates that on September 24, 2002 evening at 4:30 PM, two armed terrorists with AK-56 rifles, hand grenades, among other weapons, had entered the Swaminarayan Askshardham Temple in Gandhinagar from Gate 3.
They indiscriminately started firing at devotees, volunteers and visitors in which 33 persons including NSG Commandos, State Commando Force, SRP group, were killed. The order states that 86 persons, including 23 police officers and jawans were grievously injured. The two were gunned down after five hours of fierce gun battle.
The case was first investigated by Ahmedabad Detection of Crime Branch (DCB) and later transferred to Anti-Terrorist Squad. A year later on 29th August, five accused were arrested and a month later on September 12, the sixth accused was apprehended.
Altaf Hussen Akbar Hussen Malek, Adambhai Sulemanbhai Ajmeri, Mohmed Salim Mohmed Hanif Shaikh, Abdul Kayum alias Mufti Saab Mohmedbhai Mansuri, Abdullamiya Yasinmiya Kadri and Shaanmiya alias Chand Khan Sajjad Khan were tried before the POTA court, Ahmedabad which held them guilty and awarded capital punishment. The Gujarat high court confirmed the conviction against which they moved Supreme Court.
The apex court had reversed the judgement and held them innocent citing many reasons including lack of evidence. The court found several lacuna in the investigation right from the holding non-application of mind by the then home minister in granting mandatory sanction for prosecution, police officers and chief judicial magistrate not following procedure in recording confessional statement, absence of independent evidence, delay in recording statements, among others.
"...Accordingly, we hold that there is no independent evidence on record to prove the guilt of the accused persons beyond reasonable doubt in the face of the retractions and grave allegations of torture and violation of human rights of the accused persons against the police. We accordingly answer this point in favour of the appellants,” the apex court had held.