The city Sessions Court has acquitted Maulvi Abdul Halim Shamsullah Khan Pathan (44),who was arrested by the Detection of Crime Branch (DCB) in Ahmedabad for recruiting Muslim youth and sending them for terrorist training in 2002. Pronouncing the judgment today,Additional Sessions Judge I B Vagehla acquitted Halim in the absence of any corroborative evidence. He was arrested from Danilimda on July 27,2008,a day after the Ahmedabad serial blasts where 50 lives were lost. It was claimed that he was the mastermind behind the blasts,but he was booked only in the case registered on December 4,2002, said Iliyas Khan Pathan,counsel of the accused. He was booked under various sections of the Indian Penal Code including conspiracy,waging war against the state and under the Arms act, Pathan said. In December 2002,Halim was booked for recruiting disgruntled riot-affected Muslim youth,mostly orphans,and sending them for terrorist training to Moradabad. He was also charged for his alleged involvement in the Ahmedabad serial blasts case. The police had said that he along with his accomplice in Delhi,Fahim and Hafiz Tahir,had organised training camps in Moradabad for these Muslim youth. He also took help of another accomplice,Shahid Bakshi, said Pathan. However,the prosecution failed to prove the conspiracy case against Halim,said Pathan. The public witnesses did not support the case,and in the absence of evidence,Halim was let off,Pathan further said. Earlier,a polygraph test had found Halim lying. But the prosecution did not have any evidence to corroborate the test. In addition to this,Pathan said: The Ahmedabad crime branch had shown Halim as one of the witnesses in the 2002 riot case in Delhi. But he was made an accused in the same case in 2008 in Ahmedabad by the same agency. He was booked under sections 120 B,12,121-A and 123 of Indian Penal Code and the Arms Act.
