Gujarat court acquits Islamic scholar, 5 others in '2003 ISI conspiracy case'

A special Prevention of Terrorism Act (POTA) court has acquitted Hyderabad-based cleric Mohammed Abdul Kavi and five others in a 2003 ISI conspiracy case which was carried out "for terrorism, sabotage and assassination of the then chief minister of Gujarat Narendra Modi, Pravin Togadia and other leaders of RSS, Bajrang Dal and other organisations" to take revenge of atrocities on Muslims during 2002 post-Godhra riots.

Special designated judge for POTA cases Shubhada K Baxi passed the verdict acquitting Kavi and five others, including Gulam Jafar Shaikh, Mohammed Adil alias Adil Afroz, Abdul Razak Shaikh, Mohammed Shaikl Motiullah Shaikh and Mohammed Yusuf Shaikh. They were arrested at different times since 2014 and were tried together by court.

The special judge held that the prosecution failed to prove its case beyond reasonable doubt. "There were not witnesses against the accused and the evidence of the prosecution rests upon the confessional statements of the co-accused in the lead case..," the judgement pronounced on January 31 stated. It said that two material witnesses also did "a complete volte-face." And, hence, the court said, "there appears to be no substance in the prosecution case."

Kavi, also spelled as Qavi, is said to be an Islamic scholar who was arrested by Gujarat ATS in 2014 from Delhi airport on his way to attend a conference at Deoband. The arrest was made on the basis of a warrant issued back in 2004. He was accused of helping absconding accused "by being a part of a larger conspiracy for arranging to send Muslim youths from Hyderabad and Gujarat to Pakistan for terrorist training, for avenging the losses sustained by Muslim community during post-Godhra riots."

Similarly, Gulam Jafar Shaikh was accused of providing 280 cartridges to co-conspirators, Adil Afroz was alleged to have played a role in the main conspiracy for arranging to send certain co-accused to Pakistan for terrorist training, Abdul Razak Shaikh and Mohammed Shakil Shaikh allegedly provided 10 to 15 revolvers and around 90 cartridges while Md Yusuf allegedly arranged funds for certain absconding accused, to the tune of Rs.3 lakh.

The FIR, in this case, was registered in 2003 with the Ahmedabad Detection of Crime Branch and in 2010, a special court presided over by judge Jyotsna Yagnik, now retired, convicted 22 accused out of a total of 42 who faced trial. Some of them were sentenced to ten years of rigorous imprisonment while others were awarded nine years. In the appeal, the high court reduced the sentence to five years. These six accused were shown as wanted.

Retired Deputy Superintendent of Police Tarun Barot was the complainant of this case who was back then working as a police inspector. Later in 2012 and 2013, Barot was arrested in Sadiq Jamal and Ishrat Jahan encounter cases by the CBI. The case was based on inputs from intelligence agencies claiming that some youth from Ahmedabad had gone to Pakistan for arms training in order to take revenge for the post-Godhra riots.

The order notes that the then Deputy Commissioner of Police, DCB, "D G Vanzara had provided guidance for working on the inputs." Vanzara was also arrested by CBI for his alleged roles in Sohrabuddin Sheikh and Ishrat Jahan encounter cases. Both the officers, now retired, were later discharged by the courts.