No evidence of terror link: Court gives bail to two

There is no evidence to prove they are part of a terrorist organisation In fact one accused personrsquos elder brother is a victim of terrorism in JampKrdquo observed the Pune Sessions Court while grating bail to two men who were arrested for allegedly recruiting for LashkareTaibaThe AntiTerrorism Squad ATS of Maharashtra had arrested Aftab Hussain Abdul Jabbar Shah and Mohammed Yusuf Attu both residents of Jammu amp Kashmir in May and June respectively for planning to wage a war against the Union governmentHowever the ATS had not invoked the stringent Unlawful Activities Prevention Act or UAPA instead they were booked under Sections 121 conspiracy to commit certain offences against the State and 153B imputations assertions prejudicial to nationalintegration of the IPCThe ATS officers had arrested them after taking into custody Mohammed Junaid from Pune in May Junaid a resident of Khamgaon in Buldhana district was working as a scrap dealer in Pune They had arrested another person Inamul Haque from UP who was already in jail in a case for his links with LeTAlso Read Mumbai Crime 21yearold steals from neighbour buys Rs 1lakh bike for boyfriendWhat court saidldquoSo far as present applicants Aftab and Yusuf are concerned there is some connection withJunaid He had contacted Aftab and there is reference to absconding accused Umar However from the conversation it cannot be inferred that Aftab was involved in terrorist activities or recruitment to the terrorist organisation Similarly Yusuf Attu had simply forwarded money to the account of Junaid from a very remote place There was no conversation between Yusuf Attu and Junaid before transfer of money or even thereafterrdquo the court said in its order issued on WednesdayldquoTherefore a possibility cannot be ruled out that Yusuf had transferred an amount of R10000 to the account of Junaid on the say of someone else Undisputedly there is no evidence of participation of Yusuf in any terrorist activity or in any antinational activity Similarly there is no material to indicate that Aftab was involved in any terrorist or antinational activityrdquo it addedThe court has also noted that as per the charge sheet ldquoIn the mobile phone of Aftab a photo of a grenade is seen As per the record he had received that grenade from absconding accused Umar What is important to note is that Aftab did not use the grenade nor did he hand it over to anybody else There is a statement from Umar that if applicant Aftab does not wish to blast the grenade he should return itrdquoldquoIf Aftab really wished to use the explosive in committing some antinational activity he could have handed it over to somebody else Therefore receipt of a grenade by Aftab cannot be taken as an antinational circumstancerdquo the court noted Referring to conversations between Aftab and Umar the court said in its order that ldquoUmar was provoking Aftab to get involved in terrorist activities or in the recruitment processrdquoAftabrsquos advocate Yashpal Purohit has pointed out that his elder brother was a victim of terrorism it said adding ldquoWhen it is so and when there is no evidence of participation of Aftab in any terrorist activity it cannot be prima facie believed that he is a member of any terrorist or banned organisationrdquo Aftabrsquos lawyer had told the court that his family was pressurised to join a terror outfit but they refused and so they were being harassed Advocate Purohit had contended Aftab was arrested on the basis of allegations and that there was ldquono substantive evidence against him and therefore he deserves to be released on bailrdquoThe caseAccording to the ATS Junaid was in touch with one Hamidullah Jargar absconding in JampK and that the latter was running a WhatsApp group called Ansar Gazwatul HindTAWHEED Jargar used to send antinational and terrorismrelated posts on the group and on his instructions Junaid allegedly recruited people in India During the probe the ATSrsquos cyber cell found that Junaid posted on Facebook content in respect to atrocities committed on Muslims in India to spread the feeling of hatred against HindusAccording to the ATS Junaid came in contact with Aftab and after they got close he offered Aftab to join LeT a banned terrorist outfit Aftab introduced Junaid to one Umar through WhatsApp saying that he was recruiting for a Tanzim a new terror group it claims The ATS also claimed that Aftab and Umar were calling Junaid to Kashmir for training of ammunition and weapons to create havoc in various crowded places in India Aftab and Umar transferred R10000 to Junaidrsquos new bank account for coming to JampK for training through Yusuf On Umarrsquos instructions Junaid had purchased various SIM cards to create new Facebook and WhatsApp groupsMayMonth in 2022 when one of the suspects was arrested by Maha ATS