Imam acquitted of terror charges -- 3 Kashmiris Sent To Seven Years In Prison

RELIEVED: Haj House Imam Gulam Illahi Yahya Bakhsh was set free for lack of evidence

Haj House Case

Mateen Hafeez I TNN

Mumbai: Sewree fast-track sessions court judge V P Patkar on Saturday acquitted the imam of Mumbai’s Haj House, Gulam Illahi Yahya Bakhsh, of all terror charges but sentenced three Kashmiris to seven years’ rigorous imprisonment for possessing firearms.

The state Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) had claimed to have busted a Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) sleeper cell.

The three Kashmiris, Khursheed Gani Lone alias Lala (35), Arshad Gulam Hussain (31) and Ramzan Wahab Qazi (64), were arrested from Nagpada on January 6, 2006. The ATS claimed to have seized a foreign-make .32-bore pistol, 20 detonators, five timers and six live cartridges from them. Bakhsh was arrested a week later for harbouring terrorists, facilitating financial transactions and having association with a banned outfit.

Bakhsh was booked under sections 16 (conniving), 18 (conspiring) and 19 (harbouring terrorists) of the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA). The judge told Bakhsh, “Maulana, there is no witness against you. You are being acquitted for lack of evidence.’’ Bakhsh, in a white kurta pyjama, smiled and thanked the judge. Shortly, he offered namaz in the court corridor in the presence of around a dozen policemen.

However, when it came to the Kashmiris, the judge said, “The prosecution has proved that the three had detonators and firearms in their possession. They have been sentenced to seven-year rigorous imprisonment.’’

The ATS had said the accused were planning to strike on Republic Day. “We had received intelligence that some terrorists from Jammu and Kashmir might have slipped into the city. Accordingly, policemen had been deployed at all bus depots and railway stations,’’ the then police commissioner A N Roy had said after the arrests. The ATS had claimed that Imam Bakhsh had received around Rs 40 lakh through hawala and arranged for the accommodation of Lala, Hussain and Qazi.

The judge was also not convinced by the police’s claim that the funds were collected by the Kashmiri suspects for terror activities. “There is no evidence to show that they were members of any outfit,’’ the judge said. He also did not agree with the police’s claim that a witness had heard the three in Hyderabad, talking about a terror strike in Mumbai.

Bakhsh told TOI, “I am happy that justice has been delivered. How can the police prove anything when I was not involved at all?’’ Bakhsh’s wife, Mufeeda Khatoon, said she had been praying all night.

The Times of India, January 17, 2010