IMPORTANT POINT
For conviction all circumstances must converge to the guilt of the accused.

JUDGMENT

Surinder Singh Nijjar, J. —

1. These appeals have been filed under Section 19 of the Terrorist and Disruptive Activities (Prevention) Act, 1987 (hereinafter referred to as ‘TADA Act’) against the final judgment and order dated 21st June, 2007 passed by the designated Court No. II TADA Act, 16(S)/93/CBI/SCB/MAS, whereby the learned Judge convicted the appellants under Section 120-B IPC read with Sections 153A, 201, 302, 326, 324, 419, 436 IPC, Section 9(B)(1)(b) of the Explosives Act, Sections 3, 4, 5 and 6 of the Explosives Substances Act and Section 3(2)(i) and (ii) and Section 3(3) of the TADA Act and they were sentenced to undergo imprisonment for life.

2. The prosecution case in brief was as follows:

After the demolition of the Babri Masjid in the month of December 1992, there were numerous violent incidents in various parts of the country attributed to Muslim fanatics against Hindu organizations, places of religious worship and other institutions. During the period from December 1992 to October 1993, the appellants entered into a criminal conspiracy at Madras, Vaniyam Padi Melapalayam, Madurai, Bangalore, Tumkur, Anchal and other places to commit illegal acts by inciting Muslim youths to commit acts of violence and terrorism. Such acts included manufacturing of bombs, exploding them in various Hindu organizations, places of worship and other religious institutions, committing murder of persons likely to be present in the offices of such organizations and places of worship, to cause hurt to the inmates therein, to escape after the commission of such acts, to provide accommodation and shelter to the conspirators to carry out the object of the conspiracy, to go into hideouts, to harbour the offenders involved in such violent acts and to screen the offenders from the clutches of law. Ahmad Ali (A9) addressed public meetings and incited Muslim youths to fight against Hindu Munnani and RSS leaders and also to indulge in acts of violence to promote enmity between Hindu and Muslims.

3. On 8th July, 1993, A14 Hyder Ali (posing himself to be Ravi) and A15 Imam Ali (posing himself to be Sivakumar) visited Vadacherry (located in the outskirts of Vaniyambadi-Vellore District, Tamil Nadu) with the intention of causing bomb blasts at a public meeting addressed by one of the Hindu Munnani leaders Sridhar (PW 118). However they could not execute their plan since the meeting was over by the time they reached Vadacherry and the bomb remained unused. However they met Sridhar and after introducing themselves as Ravi and Sivakumar, expressed their desire to meet him at Chennai. The unused bomb was dismantled and kept in the house of A18 Mushtaq Ahmed at Jaffarbad in Vaniyambadi which is nearer to Vadacherry. Afterwards the duo returned to Chennai. On 29th July, 1993, A5 Abubucker Siddique, A14 Hyder Ali, A15 Imam Ali and A17 Kaja Nizamuddin went to a house in Porur and ordered a remote control device. Thereafter they went to the house of A18 Mushtaq Ahmed (absconding accused) at Jaffarabad. Together all the aforesaid accused went to Gudiyatham and purchased gelatin and detonators and brought it to the house of A18 Mushtaq Ahmed. It is further the case of the prosecution that A15 Imam Ali conducted a trial blast at the house of A18 Mushtaq Ahmed and thereafter left for Chennai on the following day. They collected the remote control ordered earlier from the Porur house and checked the same. They then purchased pen torch cells, one battery box, quartz timer, switch and some other items required for blasting suitcase bomb. On 30th July, 1993 A15 Imam Ali and A17 Kaja Nizamuddin along with A5 Abubucker Siddique and A14 Hyder Ali went to the RSS office Chennai for surveying the place. While A15 Imam Ali and A17 Kaja Nizamuddin were inside the RSS office A5 Abubucker Siddique and A14 Hyder Ali remained outside. A15 and A17 could not meet Sridhar as he was out of office. However they met other office bearers and informed him that they were r