IM operative sentenced to death penalty in Hyderabad blast case acquitted in terror email case in Mumbai
Shaikh will, however, continue to remain in jail as he was convicted in the Hyderabad blasts case and sentenced to death penalty---a case pending confirmation before the High Court.
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The police had alleged that the mail was sent to create communal disharmony. The Mumbai police took Shaikh's custody in 2015, after he was arrested by the Delhi police in 2014 in another case. (File)A special court on Friday acquitted Ajaz Saeed Shaikh, a resident of Pune arrested on the charges of being an alleged Indian Mujahideen operative, from a case where he was booked for sending emails to the media about the terror attack at Jama Masjid in New Delhi in 2010.
Shaikh will, however, continue to remain in jail as he was convicted in the Hyderabad blasts case and sentenced to death penalty—a case pending confirmation before the High Court. He is also undergoing trial in other cases, including the Mumbai 2011 triple blasts case, and is currently lodged in Cherlapally jail in Hyderabad.
In 2010, an FIR was registered at the cyber police station in Mumbai against unknown persons stating that on September 19, 2010, an email was sent on behalf of banned terror organisation Indian Mujahideen. The email took responsibility for the attack in Delhi.
The police had alleged that the mail was sent to create communal disharmony. The Mumbai police took Shaikh’s custody in 2015, after he was arrested by the Delhi police in 2014 in another case.
Police had claimed that Shaikh had obtained a SIM card through forged documents and also purchased a mobile phone from Manish Market in Mumbai to send the email.
Shaikh was acquitted on Friday from all charges including forgery, criminal conspiracy of the IPC, and relevant sections of the anti-terror law Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act.
Shaikh, through his lawyer, Hasnain Kazi, submitted that mandatory provisions of UAPA were not adhered to. He had submitted before the court during the final arguments that there was a delay of three months in issuing of the sanction after it was sought in 2015 and said that the sanction order was issued without application of mind, therefore, vitiating the trial.
It was also submitted that the arrest order was not collected from the designated officer by the investigating officer before Shaikh’s arrest. It was also submitted that there was no evidence to show that the email was sent from Mumbai and there were contradictions in the test identification parade.
During the trial which began in 2023, the 37-year-old through his lawyers had also submitted that an adverse inference can be drawn from the fact that CD claimed by the police to have CCTV footage of him purchasing the mobile phone used in the offence, was never shown as evidence, nor was he given a copy of it.
The detailed order on the court’s reasoning for the acquittal is yet to be made available.
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