The prosecution must establish its case beyond reasonable doubt, and in case of acquittal, the appellate court should not disturb the finding of acquittal recorded by the trial court unless the findings are perverse.

S.P.GARG, J.

1. The State has preferred the petition for leave against the judgment dated 02.02.2011of learned Additional Sessions Judge in SC No.24/2010 by which the Respondents were acquitted of the charges for committing the offences punishable under Sections 307/353/186/489(c)/482/120B/34 IPC, under Section 25/27 Arms Act & under Section 3/5 Explosives Act.

2. Case of the prosecution is that in June, 2005, SI Ravinder Kumar Tyagi posted in the office of Special Staff, South-West District, Delhi received a secret information that Masood and Zahid involved in terrorist activities had made their base in Delhi and were about to strike in Delhi, Gurgaon and other satellite towns. This information was recorded as DD No.6 dated 27.06.2005 in the office of the Special Staff. On 01.07.2005 at 10:30 P.M. SI Ravinder Kumar Tyagi on receipt of secret information that Masood and Zahid along with their two associates were about to come to Delhi at 12:30 A.M. from Gurgaon in a blue Tata Indica Car bearing No.HR-26-S-0440 and were in possession of heavy arms and ammunition, formed a raiding party consisting of SI Raj Kumar, ASI Charan Singh, ASI Nirakar Sharma, HC Raj Kumar, HC Ombir Singh, Ct.Surender Singh, Ct.Vinay, Ct.Dinesh Kumar, Ct.Raja Ram, Ct.Zafar Khan, Ct.Kishan, Ct.Sanjy Singh, Ct.Rohtash, Ct.Santraj and Ct.(Driver) Suresh and laid a trap at Gurgaon Delhi Road near NH-8 & Rajokri Crossing at about11:30 P.M. It is further alleged that about 12:45 A.M. a blue colour Tata Indica Car No.HR-26S-0440 was seen coming from Gurgaon Road and when it failed to stop despite a signal, the police chased and forced it to stop near Randhawa Farm House. Accused Saqib Rehman @ Masood, sitting on the front seat of the car immediately came out and fired two rounds at the police party with a pistol. SI Ravinder Tyagi fired one round in turn from his service revolver. He and Constable Vinay snatched the pistol from Saqib Rehman. The accused Nazir Ahmed Sofi @ Doctor, who was on the driver’s seat exhorted Saquib Rehman to shoot at the police party but was overpowered by ASI Nirakar Sharma. The accused Gulam Moinuddin Dar sitting behind tried to remove pin of the handgrenade but was overpowered by Constable Surender Singh; he snatched the handgrenade from his hands. The accused Bhashir Ahmed Shah @ Basir exhorted Gulam Moinuddin Dar to hurl the handgrenades at the police but was overpowered by Head Constable Raj Kumar.

3. The pistol recovered from Saqib Rehman contained four live rounds of 7.62 bore loaded in the magazine and one live round in the pistol chamber. The police seized two cartridges fired by Saqib Rehman @ Masood. In the personal search of Nazir Ahmed Sofi, 12 live cartridges of 7.62 bore were recovered. Head Constable Raj Kumar recovered 35 bullets of AK-47 assault rifle from the right pocket of the pant of Bashir Ahmed Shahs’ trouser. SI Ravinder Tyagi prepared a rukka and sent it to the P.S.Kapasahera for registering the FIR. FIR No.146/2005 was accordingly registered at PS Kapasahera at 4:33 A.M. for the aforesaid offences. SI Mahender Singh along with Ct.Surender Singh of PS Kapasahera reached the spot and conducted necessary proceedings. On search of Tata Indica vehicle, a briefcase containing an Army Combat Uniform and fake currency notes of Rs.50,000/-were recovered. In the personal search of Gulam Moinuddin Dar @ Zahid, a sketch of Palam Air Force Station was recovered from his pant pocket. The I.O. arrested all the four accused and recorded their disclosure statements.

4. During investigation, it transpired that the four accused had been staying in Hotel Baba Continental, Saraswati Marg, Karol Bagh, Delhi. A team lead by ASI Charan Singh along with the accused Saqib Rehman and Gulam Moinuddin Dar was sent to Srinagar and another team lead by SI Mahender Singh, with accused Bashir Ahmed Shah and Nazir Ahmed Sofi was sent to Patna, Bihar, for arrest of the co-accused and recovery of arms/ammunition etc. The team lead by A