“It does appear to us that the task which the terrorists could not accomplish while attacking the Parliament House on December 13, 2001 was again attempted by this team, though they belong to a separate militant outfit — the LeT. The terrorists who had planned to capture or blow up the Parliament building belonged to a terrorist organisation called JKLF,” the Bench observed in an appeal filed by the “terrorists” against their conviction.

The 132-page judgment by a Division Bench of Justices B N Chaturvedi and P K Bhasin reveals that during the trial three of the four members of the hit squad claimed in their defence that they themselves were “victims of terrorists in Kashmir”, due to their families’ close allegiance to political parties.

The convicts are all in their 20s and residents of Anantnag in the Valley. They are Mohammed Afzal Kumhar, allegedly a junior engineer with the J-K Rural Development Department since May 1999, Adil Nazir Keen, Bilal Ahmed Mir, and Ansar Ahmed Dar.

Story of the ‘terrorists’

Kumhar told the special court that he came to Delhi on December 31, 2001 on “business”. Claiming to be a “victim of terrorism”, he said his grandfather was killed due to his affiliation with the National Conference.

Dar also took the same line, saying his father was killed and an uncle abducted by terrorists for a Rs 5-lakh ransom because another uncle was earlier a Union deputy home minister and his family had “links with politicians”. He claimed he and Keen were partners in spice business and often came to Delhi.

Mir said he came to the Capital in December 1998 after his family was “killed by terrorists” in Kashmir.

They argued that some “plain-clothes men” arrested them on January 2, 2002 and held them till their arrest was recorded on January 14.

This, they contended, came after police “sensed” that their family had sought help from then J-K Legislative Council chairman Abdul Rashid Dar, who had in turn informed Chief Minister Farooq Abdullah.

Tracking back
The case traces back to intelligence information, received in the last week of December 2001, that suspected LeT members were hoarding large quantities of explosives in Delhi. Intelligence agencies also received a specific input on January 14, 2002 — 12 days before the Republic Day — about suspects holed up in room number 3 of Karan Hostel in Kotla Mubarakpur, South Delhi.

A team led by Inspector Mohan Chand Sharma raided the spot the same day and arrested the four.

Besides Rs 35 lakh stashed under the beds, 8.18 kg of RDX/PETN explosives, two live electronic detonators and a polythene bag with the logo ‘Mission Kashmir’ were seized from the room.

On November 22, 2007, the four were sentenced to 10 years’ rigorous imprisonment for conspiracy to wage war and collecting arms with intention to wage war against the state (IPC Sections 121-A and 122) and punishment under various provisions of the Explosives Substances Act and POTA.

The court also slapped a fine of Rs 75,000 on each of them.

The Bench dismissed the convicts’ contentions as an “afterthought” and upheld the authenticity of their confessions by expelling any doubts that they were made under duress or torture.

Maninder Singh, the counsel for Dar and Mir, said on Saturday: “Then ACP Rajbir Singh, who was investigating officer in the case, had admitted in his testimony in court that none of the accused had any criminal background. Bilal Ahmed Dar was a student in Delhi since 1999, and had done a tenant verification too.

“If people are accused of such grave offences, it is the police’s duty to get air-tight evidence, which they did not in this case.”