BENGALURU: The High Court of Karnataka has acquitted all three accused, including a Pakistan citizen, of charges of terror activities under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act based on the evidence given by the then principal secretary of the Home Department.
The then principal secretary Raghavendra Auradkar stated that “he could not remember whether the review committee was there or not” when he passed the sanction order to enable the special court for NIA cases to take cognisance of the offences against them.
Referring to Auradkar’s evidence given during the cross-examination before the special court, the high court said his evidence makes two aspects clear, either the materials collected during the investigation might not have been referred to the review committee for recommending sanction or if referred, the report might not have been placed before the sanctioning authority.
Thus, the sanction order loses its sanctity. The special court missed this aspect. Therefore, conviction of all the accused for offences under Sections 13, 17, 18 and 18B of UAPA cannot be sustained, the high court said, while passing an order to deport the Pakistan citizen after his release from Gulbarga jail.
The acquitted are Syed Abdul Rehman and Afsar Pasha alias Khushiruddin, residents of Bengaluru, and Mohammed Fahad Hi alias Mohammed Koya, a citizen of Pakistan.
A division bench of Justice Sreenivas Harish Kumar and Justice J M Khazi passed the order by modifying the orders of conviction and sentence dated February 23, 2023, and March 3, 2023, respectively passed by the Special Court for NIA Cases in the city, which were questioned by the accused by filing appeal before the division bench.
14 MORE PAKISTANIS ARRESTED
Bengaluru: Fourteen more Pakistanis staying illegally in different parts of the country were arrested by the Jigani police on Tuesday when they came to support the Pakistan nationals who were arrested in the city recently. The police said that after the arrest of Parvez, who allegedly helped the Pakistanis obtain fake documents to stay in India, supporters of the Mehdi Foundation International arrived from different parts of the country to support him and the two Pakistani families which were arrested earlier.
They were detained by the police on suspicion and were arrested after they found out that they were also Pakistanis staying illegally using fake identities. All the arrested individuals are linked to MFI, which promotes the Goharian philosophy of divine love. In total, 21 Pakistanis were arrested by the police since last week. Senior police officers said that the Intelligence Bureau is also questioning the accused, along with the local police.