This is an archive article published on January 22, 2017
2 acquitted after 11-year trial in terror case: No logs, no fingerprints, Delhi court points to lapses in police probe
The court also said that “no crime team was called to the spot” and that “no efforts” were made by the Special Cell “to lift any fingerprints from the ammunition seized” from the accused.
Irshad with wife at their one-room home in Delhi. He was cleared of terror charges after a 11-year-long legal battle. (File/Express Photo by Amit Mehra)
While acquitting Irshad Ali and Maurif Qamar, arrested on terror charges in 2006, a Delhi Sessions Court has pointed to discrepancies in the probe carried out by the Delhi Police Special Cell, while stating that the prosecution had been “unable to prove its case beyond reasonable doubt”.
The court also said that “no crime team was called to the spot” and that “no efforts” were made by the Special Cell “to lift any fingerprints from the ammunition seized” from the accused.
The Indian Express had first reported about the court order, acquitting Ali and Qamar of terror charges after an 11-year trial, on December 22, 2016.
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The Special Cell had maintained that the duo were arrested with arms and ammunition on February 9, 2006, from Mukarba Chowk in Delhi, minutes after they got off a bus from Jammu.
In a detailed order passed by Additional Sessions Judge Reetesh Singh, the court pointed out at least five crucial aspects of the probe, in view of which it said the “prosecution has been unable to prove its case beyond reasonable doubt”. The court said the Special Cell’s “site plan” of the place from where the duo were apprehended “does not contain full material particulars”.
The court also said, “No written order of any senior police official regarding assignment of investigation was produced by the prosecution.”
Noting that “private vehicles were used in the raid”, the court said, “Details of these vehicles used by the police have not been mentioned in the DD Entry. No logbook of use of private vehicles has been maintained. None of them could recall the registration numbers of these private vehicles.”
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The court has said that “no credible effort” was made by police to join public witnesses, despite there being an “IGL station, DTC depot and a police post nearby”.
The court added that “neither the driver nor the conductor of JKSRTC bus”, in which the two men were suspected to have been travelling, were made witnesses in this case, nor were the bus tickets recovered from the accused.
Qamar’s brother had approached the Delhi High Court, which had ordered a CBI probe. In its closure report filed on November 11, 2008, the CBI concluded that the duo were IB and Special Cell informers and had been falsely implicated.
The Special Cell, however, claimed the duo were Al Badr militants. The Special Cell had claimed that RDX, cartridges, detonators and a Chinese pistol were recovered from them.
Kaunain Sheriff M is an award-winning investigative journalist and the National Health Editor at The Indian Express. He is the author of Johnson & Johnson Files: The Indian Secrets of a Global Giant, an investigation into one of the world’s most powerful pharmaceutical companies.
With over a decade of experience, Kaunain brings deep expertise in three areas of investigative journalism: law, health, and data. He currently leads The Indian Express newsroom’s in-depth coverage of health.
His work has earned some of the most prestigious honours in journalism, including the Ramnath Goenka Award for Excellence in Journalism, the Society of Publishers in Asia (SOPA) Award, and the Mumbai Press Club’s Red Ink Award.
Kaunain has also collaborated on major global investigations. He was part of the Implant Files project with the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ), which exposed malpractices in the medical device industry across the world. He also contributed to an international investigation that uncovered how a Chinese big-data firm was monitoring thousands of prominent Indian individuals and institutions in real time.
Over the years, he has reported on several high-profile criminal trials, including the Hashimpura massacre, the 2G spectrum scam, and the coal block allocation case. Within The Indian Express, he has been honoured three times with the Indian Express Excellence Award for his investigations—on the anti-Sikh riots, the Vyapam exam scam, and the abuse of the National Security Act in Uttar Pradesh. ... Read More
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Irshad with wife at their one-room home in Delhi. He was cleared of terror charges after a 11-year-long legal battle. (File/Express Photo by Amit Mehra)
