SRINAGAR — A 17-year-old criminal case registered at Police Station Saddar, Srinagar, has ended with the acquittal of four persons after a Special Court held that the prosecution failed to establish the charges beyond reasonable doubt and found significant deficiencies in the evidence presented during the trial.
The judgment was pronounced on September 16 by Additional Sessions Judge, TADA/POTA, Special Judge designated under the NIA Act, Manjeet Rai.
The case arose from FIR No. 254/2009 registered at Police Station Saddar and involved allegations relating to Cross-LoC trade, criminal conspiracy and alleged funding of the banned organisation Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT).
The four persons acquitted are Mushfiq Ahmad Lone, Vipin Kumar Sharma, Sanjeev Kumar Tandon and Zahoor Ahmad Dar. Proceedings against another accused, Suraj Prakash Badyal, had abated following his death on November 29, 2024.
According to the prosecution case, money was allegedly generated through Cross-LoC barter trade and channelled for unlawful activities. During the investigation, police claimed to have recovered cash, a grenade and other articles, with the total cash seized stated in the judgment at ₹13.85 lakh.
The Court, however, found that the prosecution case rested substantially on alleged disclosure statements, recoveries and call-detail records. It noted that there was no eyewitness to any alleged delivery of money and that no money trail through bank accounts, account books or trade registers had been established.
The judgment also recorded several deficiencies in the handling of the alleged recoveries.
No independent witnesses were associated with the arrests or recoveries, the Court noted. It further observed that the seized currency was not sealed and that its numbers were not recorded in the relevant seizure documents.
The grenade, according to the judgment, was also neither properly sealed nor subjected to forensic or expert examination.
The prosecution witnesses gave materially different accounts regarding the dates, locations and circumstances of the arrests and recoveries. One witness turned hostile, while several others were unable to identify the accused in court, the judgment said.
The Court also examined the call-detail records relied upon by the prosecution and found that they did not meet the required evidentiary standards.
The investigating officer admitted that the relevant certification had not been obtained and that call records concerning Sanjeev Kumar Tandon had not been secured.
Another significant issue concerned the nature of the Cross-LoC trade itself.
The investigating officer admitted that the trade was a regulated barter system and that he had not examined the business or bank accounts of Vipin Kumar Sharma and Sanjeev Kumar Tandon to establish that the recovered money was unaccounted for.
He also admitted that the investigation had not established a business connection between Sharma and Tandon and Mushfiq Ahmad Lone.
The defence representing Vipin Kumar Sharma and Sanjeev Kumar Tandon was led by Advocate Azhar-ul-Amin, assisted by Advocates Bilal Bhat and Hanan Hussain.
The defence argued that the prosecution had failed to produce independent evidence connecting the two with the alleged conspiracy and had not established that the recovered amounts constituted unlawful funds.
The Court also found that the prosecution had failed to establish mandatory statutory requirements concerning sanction under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act.
The judgment records that no sanction order was proved in evidence and that the sanctioning authority was not examined.
Concluding that the prosecution had failed to prove the charges beyond reasonable doubt, the Court acquitted the four surviving accused of all charges.
The Court also ordered that the ₹13.85 lakh seized during the case be released to the persons from whom it was seized or their legal heirs, subject to the appeal period and any lawful restraint, after finding that the money had not been proved to be proceeds of unlawful activities.
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