Thane police’s Hizb men get life term

The four — Javed Bhat, Farooque Siddiqui Bhat, Altaf Hussein Bhat, and Farooque Chopan — were arrested on October 23, 2001 by a Thane police team led by Commissioner S M Shangari from a house near Mumbra on suspicion that they belonged to the Hizbul Mujahideen.

In November 2001, they were handed over to the Jammu and Kashmir CID officials. They were interrogated by the intelligence agencies for about three months. Later, Jammu CID Inspector Mohammed Taj Khan submitted a report before the court stating that none of them was wanted by the Jammu & Kashmir police for any offences. However, Thane police refused to drop charges against them.

According to the police, they had planned to create terror in Mumbai by smuggling in explosives, and killing prominent political leaders. They also claimed that three firearms and 20 live rounds were recovered from them. They had also seized ‘‘incriminating’’ documents including five issues of Meantime, a Delhi-based monthly, Urdu newspaper Milli containing photographs of US President George Bush, and Osama bin Laden on the cover, a Mumbai tourist guidebook, and an Urdu magazine with pictures of national leaders.

During the trial, the Thane police told the court that ballistic experts had confirmed the suspicion that the seized weapons had been ‘‘used previously’’ and were in ‘‘working condition.’’

Speaking to The Indian Express on February 9, the four young men who hail from Baramulla had denied that they were terrorists. They came to know of the serious charges only when Shangari addressed a press conference the next day.

‘‘We were masked and made to squat before the flashing camera lights. I wanted to stand up and tell everyone that the police were lying,’’ Javed Bhat had told this newspaper. The arrest of the four shocked villagers and families in their native Saloosa in Baramulla.

Defence lawyers Jaideep Thakkar and Shakeb Khan today said they will challenge the order. Though the court pronounced the sentence, the copies of the written order were not made available to the defence or the accused. ‘‘We had pointed out several lacunae in police investigations. The ballistic report, for example, doesn’t conclusively prove that the weapons were used by the four. The magazines seized are publicly available,’’ Thakkar said.