Man held with RDX,Rs 49 lakh,gets 7 yrs’ RI

Khwaja (48) was arrested by the Special Cell on July 10,2006. As per the police,apart from 2.5 kg of RDX,an amount of Rs 49 lakh was also seized from his car in Lodhi Colony and he was to stand trial under charges that could fetch the maximum punishment of life term. His confessional statement recorded by the Special Cell reads that he was inducted in the Lashkar-e-Toiba in February that year and had been ferrying money through hawala channels from J-K to the Capital.

Over two years into the trial,the court relied on the testimonies of police officials (there was no independent or public witnesses in the case) and the “strong” and necessary “inferences” resulting from the chain of events to convict him.

“The recovery of money along with RDX leads to strong inference that it was meant for some terrorist activities¿ the RDX with the unaccounted for money lead to only one inference that the consignment in possession of the accused was with intent to aiding a terrorist activity,” the judgment reads.

Incidentally,the same judgment earlier mentioned: “There is no cogent and relevant evidence that terrorist activities were being funded on a regular basis. Of course,there is a strong suspicion that the money recovered with the RDX had no other purpose but in relation to some terror activities. Again it may be reminded that the so-called confessional statement only reflects that the accused was acting as a conduit or a courier. At the same time,strong suspicion will not be enough to bring the charge under the provisions of the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act.”

The court has acquitted Khwaja of the charges of raising funds for terrorist activities (Section 17),participating in conspiracy (Section 18) due to the dearth of cogent evidence. It,however,convicted him for unauthorised possession of the explosives,which according to the court,if were to come in the possession of any terror outfit for their sinister designs,could have led to “devastating consequences”.

The 19-page judgment also took into account the lacuna in the prosecution’s case that there were no details as to from where the money had come and that bankers were not examined to get to the source. Notably,this adverse observation against the prosecution did not come to Khwaja’s help,as the court said he too had failed in revealing the legitimate source of the money. It has ordered the forfeiture of the tainted money.

“Keeping in mind the accused is 48 years of age,with otherwise clean antecedents and family background,and that the facts of this case suggest he was probably acting as a conduit or courier,I am not inclined to award the maximum sentence of life,” the court said. Khwaja was then sentenced to seven years in jail along with a fine of Rs 1 lakh.

When contacted by Newsline,Nitya Ramakrishnan,Khwaja’s counsel,said the defence would move the Delhi High Court against the order.