Confessions under Section 15 of the TADA Act are substantive evidence if corroborated; retraction alone does not prove involuntariness. Additionally, kidnapping for ransom does not automatically establish an intent to overawe the government or strike terror under Section 3 of the TADA Act.

JUDGMENT

K.G. BALAKRISHNAN, CJI.

1. All these appeals arise out of a Common Judgment in TADA Crime Case No. 4/1995 and TADA Crime Case No. 27/1996 delivered by the Additional Designated Judge at Ahmedabad.

2. There were 11 accused persons before the Designated Court charged for various offences under the Indian Penal Code (IPC), TADA Act, Indian Passport Act, Motor Vehicle Act and Bombay Police Act. By the impugned judgment. A-1 to A- 4 and A-9 were convicted for the offences punishable under Section 120B IPC and under Sections 342, 365 and 384 IPC read with Section 120 B IPC, but all the accused were acquitted of various other charges framed against them. Out of the 5 accused convicted by the designated court, 3 of them have filed Criminal Appeal No. 525/ 2004 and the two other appeals before us have been preferred by the State of Gujarat challenging the acquittal of the other accused.

3. The case of the prosecution was that PW 3 Jayendra Mahendra Tripathi was a builder having a construction company of his own. He was also working as a teacher during the relevant period and staying in Kundan Apartment in Vasna area in Ahmedabad. The office of the construction company was in Deep Apartment at Vasna. He used to go to his office in the evening. On 19.1 .1994, he left his house at 4.00 p.m. on way to the office. Walking towards office, when he reached the place near Vasna Bus Stand, a Maruti van came and stopped near him. He was shown a visiting card by the occupants of the van to enquire about the address mentioned thereon. While PW 3 Jayendra Mahendra Tripathi was reading the visiting card, somebody pushed him from behind and he was forced into the Maruti van. Inside the van, his head and face were covered with a woolen cap. 5-6 persons were sitting in the Maruti van and after the victim was forced into the van, the van moved and travelled for 30-45 minutes and eventually he was taken to the cellar of a building. There, the victim gave the telephone number of his construction company, but as there was no response from that telephone number, he gave the telephone number of his friend K.K. Vaidh. PW 3 Jayendra Mahendra Tripathi was kept in a room in that building and according to the prosecution, the accused persons made a demand of Rs. 5 lakhs from the partners of the construction company.

4. The partners of the construction company withdrew Rs. 10 lakhs from the Union Bank of India and a relative of the victim, namely, PW 4 Kirtikumar Tapishanker Tripathi, was asked to come with Rs. 3 lakhs near Anjali Cinema on 19.1.1994 at an evening time by the victim himself who spoke to him on telephone. He was asked to come by a rickshaw and to handover Rs. 3 lakhs to a person who would identify himself by a code (No. 500). He came with Rs. 31akhs near Anjali Cinema Square Road. A person came on a motorcycle, identified himself with the aforesaid code and the bag containing Rs. 3 lakhs was given to that person.

5. PW 2 Harshad Premjibhi Gajjar gave a complaint to the police on the same day, i.e. 19.1.1994. A case was registered by PW 14 Police n~pector and investigation started. During investigation, the house of A-6 Salim Haveliwala was searched on 23.3.1994 and a sum of Rs. 50,000/- was recovered. Thereafter, the house of his father-in-law A-7 Yakub Ganibhai was also searched and Rs. 1,75,000/- was recovered. Bundles of notes recovered from his house were showing the slips of Union Bank of India, C.G. Road, Relief Road and Rajpur branches, Ahmedabad. During investigation, A-1 Abdulvahab Abdulmajid Shaikh, A-5 Mohammadrafik Abdulrahim Shaikh, A-3, Abdulsattar @ Sattar Ghanti, A-4 Mahammadsalim @ Salim Tolo and A-2 Najirmahammad Alimahammad Vora were arrested. Pursuant to the information furnished by A-4 M~hammadsalim @ Salim Tolo, six cartridges were recovered from a heap of bricks. On 8.9.1994, the investigation was taken over by ACP Shri B.R. Patilo He arrested A-9 Musakhan @ Babakhan Ismailkhan Pathan. This accused expressed his desire to