Aurangabad arms haul case: HC suspends convict’s life sentence, grants bail

The Bombay high court has suspended the life term of a man convicted in the 2006 Aurangabad arms haul case and granted him bail during pendency of his appeal. Afroz Khan Shahid Khan Pathan, a pharmacist, was convicted in 2016 for being part of a larger conspiracy to commit anti-national activities. The court granted him bail after accepting his contention that there was no evidence to suggest he had visited Bangladesh via Calcutta and brought funds pursuant to the conspiracy. The court also took into consideration that Pathan had been in jail for the last 17 years.

MUMBAI: The Bombay high court has suspended the life term handed down to a man convicted in the 2006 Aurangabad arms haul case and granted him bail during pendency of his appeal.

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Afroz Khan Shahid Khan Pathan, 47, a pharmacist from Majalgaon in Beed district, was one of the 21 suspected SIMI (Students’ Islamic Movement of India) members arrested by the Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS).

On July 27, 2016, a special MCOCA (Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act) court convicted him and several others on charges of being part of a larger conspiracy to commit anti-national activities. Pathan had allegedly travelled to Bangladesh to bring money to execute the crime, the prosecution claimed.

Pathan then moved the high court seeking suspension of his sentence and grant of bail. He contended in his plea that though there was a reference to him in the confessional statements of two of his co-accused - Mohammed Amir Shakil Ahmed and Sayyed Aakif Sayyed Zafaruddin -, there was no evidence to suggest that he had visited Bangladesh via Calcutta and brought funds pursuant to the conspiracy.

On Thursday, a division bench of justice Revati Mohite Dere and justice Gauri Godse accepted his contention.

“Neither of the confessions, where there is a reference to the applicant, prima facie shows that the applicant (Pathan) had in fact been to Bangladesh and brought funds or that he had knowledge or reason to believe the purpose for which he was sent to Bangladesh or of the larger conspiracy,” the bench said.

Besides, it said, both the confessions had been retracted and nothing had been recovered at the instance of the applicant.

The court also took into consideration that Pathan had been in jail for the last 17 years and while in custody he completed BA through IGNOU and secured 63% marks and later did his master’s in political science. He had completed a six-month yoga course and apart from working in the Taloja jail hospital, he is also conducting counseling and de-radicalisation sessions in the prison, the bench said, and granted him bail.

On May 8, 2006, an ATS team chased a Tata Sumo and an Indica on the Chandwad-Manmad highway near Aurangabad and arrested three people. The agency seized a huge cache of arms and ammunition, including 30 kg of RDX, 10 AK-47 assault rifles, 3,200 bullets and 50 hand grenades, from the vehicles.

The Indica was allegedly driven by the purported main conspirator, Syed Zabiuddin Ansari alias Abu Jundal, who had received the consignment from Nepal-based Lashkar-e-Taiba commander Rashid Abdulla alias Junaid, the prosecution had said.