Srinagar, Sep 20: A Special Court here has acquitted four persons in a 17-year-old case involving allegations of using Cross-LoC trade for funding of the banned Lashkar-e-Taiba after coming to the conclusion that the prosecution failed to prove the charges beyond reasonable doubt.
Special Judge designated under the NIA Act, Manjeet Rai, acquitted Mushfiq Ahmad Lone, Vipin Kumar Sharma, Sanjeev Kumar Tandon and Zahoor Ahmad Dar in a case arising from FIR No. 254/2009 registered at Police Station Saddar.
Proceedings against the accused, Suraj Prakash Badyal, had abated following his death in November 2024.
The prosecution had alleged that money generated through Cross-LoC barter trade was being channelled for unlawful activities. Police claimed to have recovered cash, a grenade and other articles during the investigation, with the judgment recording the seized cash at Rs 13.85 lakh.
In its decision, the court, however, noted significant deficiencies in the prosecution evidence. The Court pointed out that the case relied substantially on alleged disclosure statements, recoveries and call-detail records. It observed that no eyewitness had been produced to establish any alleged delivery of money and that no money trail through bank accounts, account books or trade records had been established.
Moreover, the court held that no independent witnesses were associated with the arrests or recoveries. The seized currency, it said, was not sealed and its numbers were not recorded in the relevant seizure documents. The court noted that the grenade was neither properly sealed nor subjected to forensic or expert examination.
The Court underscored that the prosecution witnesses gave materially different accounts regarding the dates, locations and circumstances of the arrests and recoveries. Furthermore, it found deficiencies in the call-detail records relied upon by the prosecution.
On the Cross-LoC trade allegations, the investigating officer admitted that the trade was a regulated barter system. He also acknowledged that the business or bank accounts of Sharma and Tandon had not been examined to establish that the recovered money was unaccounted for, and that no business connection between them and Lone had been established.
The court also found that the mandatory statutory requirements concerning sanction under the UAPA had not been established.
With the conclusion that the prosecution had failed to prove the charges beyond reasonable doubt, the court acquitted the four-surviving accused of all charges. It also directed that the ₹13.85 lakh seized during the case be released to the persons from whom it was seized or their legal heirs, subject to the appeal period and any lawful restraint.
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