Killing of IAF personnel
Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Mar 14: In the much publicized Indian Air Force (IAF) personnel killing case, Presiding Officer TADA Court Subash C Gupta today framed charges against Yasin Malik, Ali Mohd Mir, Manzoor Ahmed Sofi alias Mushtafa, Javed Ahmed Mir alias Nalka, Nana Ji alias Saleem, Javed Ahmed Zarger and Shoukat Ahmed Bakshi for the offences under Sections 302, 307 RPC, Section 3 (3) and Section 4(1) of TADA Act, 1987 and Section 7/27 of Arms Act 1959 read with Section 120- B of RPC.
The case was pending on the arguments on the framing of charge/discharge for the last 30 years.
After hearing Th Pavittar Singh ,SPP and Vijay Kumar Dogra, PP for the CBI, the Presiding Officer TADA Court observed, “CBI appears to have supported their allegations against the accused ,both, by documentary as well as oral evidence. On mild sifting and evaluating the confessional statements of the accused Shoukat Ahmed Bakshi, Ali Mohd Mir, Javed Ahmed Zarger & Mohd Rafiq Dar as recorded in terms of Section 164 of Code of Criminal Procedure and those recorded of the accused Manzoor Ahmed Sofi alias Mushtafa and Mushtaq Ahmed Lone, in compliance to the relevant provisions of Section 15 of TADA Act, it can safely be considered as an incriminating material against all the accused as they have divulged about the hatching of criminal conspiracy punishable under Section 120- B of RPC”.
“They have further confessed that in furtherance of conspiracy, crime was committed by them, in the present matter. Similarly, the verbal version of the witnesses namely Hafiz-Ullah Bhat, Javed Ahmed Shah, Ghulam Mohd Bhat, Nazir Ahmed Shah, Mohd Khalid Jan and Abdul Rehman Sofi as recorded in terms of Sections 161 of Code of Criminal Procedure, supports the contention of the CBI as to existence of a prima facie case against the accused”, the Presiding Officer said, adding “I am in agreement with the prosecution that contradictions as projected by the defence counsel in the site plan of the place of occurrence and the seizure memo , would be explained by the witnesses, in the currency of their examination”.
The court further observed, “obviously, the defence counsel would get sufficient opportunity, in this regard, in due course of the trial. Argument of the defence counsel as to non existence of any incriminating evidence against the accused – Ali Mohd Mir for establishing , prima facie his involvement in the commission of the offence does not hold water , by taking into consideration , the relevant evidence relating to killing and injuring of the Air Force officials , in pursuance of earlier hatched criminal conspiracy”.
“It is to elaborate that there is sufficient evidence, available, in this regard, in the form of confessions of the accused and of the statements of the prosecution witnesses. Non conducting of Test Identification Parade of the accused – Yasin Malik, Javed Ahmed Mir alias Nalka & Nana Ji alias Saleem looses its importance, in existence of sufficient other evidence available in the CBI charge sheet in the shape of confessional statements of the co-accused and statements of the prosecution witnesses as recorded in terms of Section 161 of Code of Criminal Procedure”, the court said.
In other words, their complicity in the crime, in the present matter, can prima facie, be worked out, from the evidence available on the CBI charge sheet. Another argument of the defence as to non compliance of the guidelines as given by Apex Court in judgment – AIR 2005 SC- 1075 is not attracted in the present mater as there was no occasion with the CBI to follow those guidelines as the matter was investigated in the year 1990, the Presiding Officer said, adding “I am unhesitant to hold that on viewing the note about recording of satisfaction by the CBI officer, while recording of confessional statements of the accused namely- Manzoor Ahmed Sofi alias Mushtafa and Mushtaq Ahmed Lone, there is a sufficient compliance of provisions of Section 15 of TADA Act”.
With these observations, court held that Yasin Malik, Ali Mohd Mir, Manzoor Ahmed Sofi alias Mushtafa, Javed Ahmed Mir alias Nalka, Nana Ji alias Saleem, Javed Ahmed Zarger and Shoukat Ahmed Bakshi, prima facie have committed offences under Sections 302, 307 RPC, Section 3 (3) and Section 4(1) of TADA Act,1987 and Section 7/27 of Arms Act 1959 read with Section 120- B of RPC.
The facts of the prosecution case as emerged after investigation by the CBI are that the accused- Shoukat Ahmed Bakshi twice visited Pakistan firstly in the month of April- May 1989 and secondly in September-October 1989 and met with the accused – Aman -Ullah Khan and hatched criminal conspiracy to attack the security forces including Air Force officials, stationed at Srinagar, in order to create terror among them and in the mind of general public.
On his return, he further entered into criminal conspiracy with accused- Yasin Malik, Javed Ahmed Mir alias Nalka, Mushtaq Ahmed Lone, Nana Ji alias Saleem, Mohd Rafiq Dar alias Ghulam Hassan, Manzoor Ahmed Sofi alias Mushtafa, Javed Ahmed Zarger and others for executing the task assigned to him by the accused – Aman Ullah Khan.
In order to accomplish the delineated nefarious object and designs, accused- Dr Ghulam Qadir Sofi provided his residential accommodation situated at Hakam Bagh Rawal Pora to be used as a hide out for making plan and preparation by the accused persons and for keeping the illegal arms and ammunitions therein. Simultaneously, they procured a blue colored Maruti Car having No. JKE- 3575 from the accused – Ali Mohd Mir.
On 25.01.1990 at around 7.30 am, accused- Yasin Malik and Javed Ahmed Mir each armed himself with Klasnikov Rifles, boarded as a pillion riders on the motorcycle having No. JK D-3705, being driven by the accused- Mushtaq Ahmed Lone, who was armed with .30- bore pistol & proceeded from the hide out towards the pick-up points of Air Force personnels located near Rawal Pora.
Simultaneously, other group consisting of accused – Nana Ji alias Saleem , Manzoor Ahmed Sofi alias Mushtafa , Shoukat Ahmed Bakshi & Mohd Rafiq Dar alias Ghulam Hassan left the hideout towards the assigned destination in the Maruti Car having Reg No JK E 3575 being driven by the accused- Javed Ahmed Zarger.
On reaching the fixed point, one group of the accused started firing shots upon the seven Air Force officials namely -ML Nathian Cpl- U S Rajwar, Cpl SC Gupta, VK Sharma, LAC A. Ahmed. Cpl V.U.Shekher and Cpl B.S Dhoni, causing them serious bullet injuries. Out of them three Air Force men namely A. Ahmed, V.U Shekher & B.S. Dhoni succumbed to their injuries.
Simultaneously, another group opened indiscriminate fire shots upon a group of 10/15 Air Force officials standing at triangle on Sannat Nagar- Rawal Pora Road, causing serious bullet injuries to three of them namely- R.C Joshi, P.K Mishra & Sheela Shrivashtaba. As a result of indiscriminate firing, Air Force personnel started running here & there. At the same time accused Yasin Malik made indiscriminate fire shots upon these running Air Force personnel.
Thereafter, after driving the motorcycle ahead, they found two more Air Force officers namely B R Sharma & R.K Khanna, who were also fired upon. With the result, both suffered grievous injuries and one of them namely- R.K Khanna succumbed to this injuries on spot.
In the meanwhile, another group consisting of accused- Shoukat Ahmed Bakshi, Mohd Rafiq Dar and Javed Ahmed Zarger fired upon Air Force official namely- N K Rath, who, however, escaped unhurt whereas, another Air Force official namely Mohd Saleem received bullet injury on his ankle.
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