Accused alleges false implication due to his exposing Rs. 50 Cr Hawala Money traced but never shown recovered by Senior Officials
An NIA Court on Friday rejected the petition for discharge, of an accused was booked with others for trying to revive militancy in Punjab for a separatist state of ‘Khalistan’.
From Northlines Digital Desk
The accused named, Mohiuddin Siddiqui, claimed to be a former Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) operative and allegedly provided ammunition and international SIM cards to two accused Harpal Singh and Gurjeet Singh Nijjar, both were convicted and awarded a year jail term.
“It is necessary to scrutinise the charge sheet as to whether there is sufficient ground for proceeding against the accused or not. The most important aspect is also that the accused Harpal Singh and Gurjeet Singh Nijjar have pleaded guilty and have been convicted by this court. It means it is sufficient to believe the accusation against the accused is prima facie true. The present application is devoid of merit and needs to be rejected,” said special judge AM Patil while rejecting the discharge application.
The court observed that the central agency had found evidence against the applicant (Siddiqui) based on the data extracted from his mobile phones.
During the investigation by the NIA, it was established that accused Harpal Singh, Mohiuddin Siddiqui and Gurjeet Singh Nijjar had entered into a criminal conspiracy to commit terrorist acts for the formation of a separate ‘Khalistan state’ and thereby threatened the security, integrity and sovereignty of India and have been attempting to revive Sikh militancy, the NIA said.
They used to upload videos and images of Operation Blue Star of 1984. They also posted photos of militant Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale and Jagtar Singh Hawara, who was convicted in the assassination of Beant Singh, the former chief minister of Punjab.
It is alleged that Siddique was in contact with Jagtar Singh Hawara. It is further alleged that the applicant had procured international SIM cards and ₹30,000 at the direction of prime accused Nijjar.
Siddique vehemently argued that in September 2018, a terror fund of ₹50 crores sent through hawala means, had been traced, however, the recovery was never shown. The applicant further submitted that when he questioned his superiors, he was asked to remain silent. However, he claimed that he chose to inform the concerned authorities about his seniors’ behavior, and hence, he argued that the corrupted superiors had hatched a conspiracy against him and misled the Punjab and Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS).
He also submitted that on December 6, 2018, he was working on a secret mission in accordance with the Indian government when his “corrupted” superiors suddenly entangled him in this case. “No specific terrorist activity has been disclosed in the NIA chargesheet and no firearm, explosive or any other illegal material has to be recovered from me,” he added.
Spl Public Prosecutor argued that the investigation revealed, that in pursuance of the conspiracy of separatist movement, the convicted accused procured a pistol, ammunition and money in October 2018 from Siddique. He further reiterated on the seriousness of the crime and hence, prayed for the rejection of the application.
Siddique further claimed that the agency had threatened the witnesses to give false statements and that the agency had solely relied on chats, calls and social media posts but had failed to collect GPRS data of mobile numbers from the concerned telecom companies, and hence, prayed to be discharged from the case.
