KALPNATH RAI CHANDRAKANT ANNA PATIL ALIAS CHANDU SHYAM KISHORE GARIKAPATTI ALIAS C S RAO SUBHASH SINGH THAKUR JAYENDRA THAKUR ALIAS BHAI THAKUR SABUV CHACKO S P RAI EAST WEST TRAVEL AND TRADE LINKS LIMITED PARESH MOHAN DESAI MOHD AHMAD MANSOOR Vs. STATE

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Out of twelve accused persons arraigned before a Designated Court in Delhi, ten were convicted of different offences under Terrorist and Disruptive Activities (Prevention) Act 1987 (for short 'TADA'). They are the appellants before us. Some of them were found to be members of a terrorists gang called 'Davood Ibrahim Group.' Three persons, including a former Union Minister of State for Power (Kalpnath Rai) were found to have harboured hardcore terrorists, besides fastening such a finding with A12 (M/s. East West Travel and Trade Links Ltd.). All of them except the company were sentenced to varying terms of imprisonment (three of them to life imprisonment) and fine ranging from Rupees ten lakhs downwards. A-12, company was sentenced to a whopping fine of Rs. fifty lakhs.

(2.) The incipient backdrop with events which culminated in the nabbing of five accused (Al-Subhash Singh Thakur; A2 - Jaynendra Thakur alais Bhai Thakur ; A3 - Shyam Kishore Garikapti; A4 - Chanderkant Patil and A5 - Paresh Mohan Desai) has been delineated by the prosecution by referring to three different incidents which took place during the nascent stages. The first was an incident which happened on 30-4-1991 when a ruthless attack was launched on the villagers at Vadrai (a coastal village in Maharashtra) in retaliation for picking up the scattered silver bars strewn in the sea from a capsized vessel employed by some smugglers. (The said incident is referred to in the evidence as Vadrai incident). The second one happened in the City of Mumbai when a number of multistorey buildings were blasted with bombs on 12-3-1993 in which a lot of people died and a lot others were seriously injured. (That incident is referred to in evidence as Bombay blast). The third is some terrorists armed with highly sophisticated weapons, had gatecrashed into the JJ hospital, Bombay where some former members of a terrorists gang were hospitalised and they were all shot dead by the intruders. (That incident is referred to as the JJ shoot-out case).

(3.) For some time in early July 1993 the Delhi Police were getting secret informations that certain members of a terrorists gang having nexus with "Davood Ibrahim group" have escaped from Bombay and perched in hideouts in Delhi. Those hiding terrorists were closely watching the developments following the arrest of one Amit Tyagi who belong to yet another terrorists' gang. They feared that the police might track them down getting scent from the arrested terrorist. Delhi Police were on the alert to trace out such hide-outs. Delhi Crime Branch Police formed a squad to prevent any blitz being operated by the hiding terrorists.