KOCHI: The accused were found guilty under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA) sections — 10 (being a member of the unlawful association) and 38 (members who associate with a terrorist organisation), Explosive Substances Act section 4 for possession of explosive substances and Section 120(b) of IPC for criminal conspiracy.
Similarly, Saduli, Hafeez Husain, Safdar Hussain, P A Shibily, Mohammad Ansar, Abdul Sathar, Aamil Parwaz, Dr H A Asadullah, Kamaruddin Nagori, Shakeel Ahmed, Dr Mirza Ahmed, Manzar Imam and Nadeem Sayeed were also found guilty under Section 20 of the UAPA.
The acquitted are Mohammad Usman of Vadodara, Gujarat; Muhammad Ali of Jabalpur, Madhya Pradesh; Kamaran Siddiqui of Khandwa, Madhya Pradesh; Mohammmad Yasir of Gulberg, Karnataka; Mohammed Asif of Raichur, Karnataka; Mohammad Sajid of Surat, Gujarat; Gayusuddin of Ahmedabad, Gujarat; Jahid Kuthubuddin Sheikh of Ahmedabad, Gujarat;Mohammad Arif of Ahmedabad, Gujarat; Mohammed Ismail of Ahmedabad, Gujarat; Imran Ibrahim Shaikh of Vadodara, Gujarat; Kayamuddin Sharfuddin of Vadodara, Gujarat; Mohammed Younous of Ujjain Madhya Pradesh; Javed Ahmed of Ahmedabad, Gujarat; Mohammad Irfan of Belgaum, Karnataka; Nashir Ahmed of Belgaum, Karnataka and Habeeb of Falahi, Azamgarh, UP.
Investigations had revealed that the participants were imparted training in handling arms, manufacture of petrol bombs, motorbike racing and rope climbing.As many as 35 accused faced the trial that commenced on January 2017. There were 38 accused in the case in which one accused, Wasiq Billa, is still absconding, Abdul Subhan Qureshi, the 38th accused and founder of Indian Mujahideen, was only arrested this year. Mehboob Sheikh was killed in Bhopal allegedly while attempting to escape from jail.
The Wagamon SIMI camp case is the first in India in which trial was carried out using the multi-point video conferencing system. The system connected the NIA court in Kochi with the jails in Ahmedabad, Bhopal and Bengaluru. The verdict was read out to the 21 accused in Ahmedabad, 11 accused in Bhopal and one accused in Bengaluru. Abdul Sattar and Mohammed Asif were produced before the court. The accused in the case were also accused in cases registered in Ahmedabad, Indore, Hubly and Belgaum.
V T Raghunath, a defence lawyer, told Express that all major offences charged against the accused were omitted in the end.“The NIA claimed that armed training had taken place. But they could not establish charges under the Arms Act. All major UAPA offences and IPC sections could not be established. The evidence was manipulated to charge a wrong case against the accused,” he said.
NIA prosecutor Arjun Ambalapatta said the verdict was welcoming as 18 accused persons were found guilty by the court. “From the preliminary understanding, we find the verdict is a favourable one for us. We will have to examine the copy of the court order and decide on the further proceedings,” the NIA officer said.The forensic evidence collected from the scene of the crime had confirmed that explosives were used in the camp.