Judgment on Board

Per Ramesh Sinha, Chief Justice

1 Heard Mr. Vivek Sharma, learned Advocate General assisted by Mr. Soumya Rai, learned Deputy Government Advocate for the State/appellant. Also heard Mr. Amarnath Pandey, learned counsel for the respondents No. 1, 3, 4, 5, 6 and 7, Ms. Sareena Khan, learned counsel for the respondent No. 2 as well as Ms. Priyanka Shukla, learned counsel for the respondent No. 8.

2 Challenge in this appeal is to the judgment of acquittal dated 12.02.2024 passed by the learned Special Judge (NIA) Bilaspur, District Bilaspur, in Special Case (NIA) No. 1/2020 by which the accused/respondents, who were charged for the offences punishable under Sections 121-A/34, 122,/34, 123/34, 120-B/34, 201/34, 420 of the Indian Penal Code (for short, the IPC) and Section 17, 38(2), 39(1), 39(2) of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967 (for short, the UAPA), have been acquitted. The allegation against the respondents/accused was that with common intention, they conspired to wage war against the Government of India, collected arms, intentionally concealed the plan to wage war, caused disappearance of evidence, and raised funds for the Pakistani intelligence agency ISI to carry out terrorist activities across India, and by associating themselves with the Pakistani intelligence agency ISI, committed offences relating to membership of the said terrorist organization, furthered its activities, and assisted in its management.

3 The case of the prosecution, in brief, is that through Pakistani Intelligence Agency, ISI, accused Rajiv @ Rajjan Tiwari and Awadhesh Dubey got bank accounts opened in different banks in the names of several persons, and money was sent and deposited into these accounts by Pakistani agents. In opening these accounts, accused Awadhesh Dubey and Rajjan Tiwari involved accused Manendra Yadav, Sanjay Devangan, and Dharmendra Yadav. These persons opened accounts in their own names and in the names of various others, received the amounts deposited by Pakistani agents, deducted commission, and then handed over the remaining money to persons designated by the Pakistani party. The accused Satvinder Singh also, at the instance of Pakistani agents, opened an account in Punjab National Bank, Jammu, in which money used to come from outside. The account number was given to Tarsem Lal and Sanjay Devangan, and Sanjay Devangan deposited Rs.20,000 in this account. This money was provided to persons engaged in activities against India. Photographs of military camps and army activities were taken and sent to ISI. The accused persons were connected with each other and, with common intention, instigated waging war against the Government of India, gathered persons for that purpose, and to facilitate such war, entered into criminal conspiracy and arranged funds for ISI by routing money through agents via various bank accounts. Accused Abdul Jabbar resided in Chandni Chowk, Delhi, and carried on cloth business. He received cloth from Surat and transported goods from Delhi to Kashmir under the names of his companies JSM and JBS. By doing so, customs duty on goods sent from Amritsar to Lahore was evaded. The goods were then received by accused Ashu alias Arshad, who, using letterheads of Nazir & Company and Abid Traders, showed the goods as belonging to Kashmir and sent them to Pakistan via Baramulla. The goods were unloaded at Muzaffarabad in Pakistan. Payment for the goods sent was brought by Dharmendra Yadav. He, while residing in Delhi, received money from Pakistani agents and delivered it to accused persons, also providing ATM cards for withdrawing funds. These funds were then used, through Peer Arshid alias Ashu, to finance separatists and extremists engaged in waging war against India. Accused Peer Arshid alias Ashu operated businesses in Baramulla under the names Nazir & Company and Abid Traders. He routed Abdul Jabbar’s goods via Baramulla as Kashmir goods to Pakistan-occupied Kashmir to evade c