Judgment

T.S. Thakur, J.

1. High Court of Bombay has, by a common order dated 18th November, 2008, impugned in these appeals, set aside orders passed by the Special Court under Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act, 1999 and acquitted the respondents of the charges framed against them. The High Court has relying upon several earlier pronouncements on the subject, held that mere proof of filing of charge sheets in the past was not enough to hold the persons accused in such charge sheets to be guilty of the offences of committing organised crime punishable under Section 3 of MCOCA for such charge sheets satisfy but one of the requirements under the said Act. What is according to the High Court equally important is to prove that the accused were guilty of committing the offence of organised crime by reason of their continuing unlawful activities. The High Court further held that any such unlawful activity should be by use of threat of violence, intimidation, coercion or other unlawful means with the objective of “gaining pecuniary or other advantages”, and that the provisions of MCOCA can be invoked only by strictly complying with the provisions of Section 23 of the Act. The compet