New Delhi: A Pakistani national and his
conduit from Bangladesh, nabbed in 2006 with some sensitive
military documents by the Delhi police special Cell, have been
convicted by a Delhi court for spying against the country.
"I am of the opinion that the accused persons have
collected `offending documents` for a purpose detrimental to
the safety and interests of the country," held Additional
Sessions Judge Rajneesh Kumar Gupta, while convicting the duo
on espionage charges.
"It is proved that Mohd Muzaffar Khan is a Pakistani
national and Ali Rehman Jalal is a Bangladeshi National," he
said, while also convicting them on charges of illegally
staying here in the country.
New Delhi: A Pakistani national and his
conduit from Bangladesh, nabbed in 2006 with some sensitive
military documents by the Delhi police special Cell, have been
convicted by a Delhi court for spying against the country.
"I am of the opinion that the accused persons have
The court is yet to pronounce its sentence for the duo. It
is slated to pronounce it later this month. The maximum
punishment for spying is 14 years, while illegal stay in the
country entails a jail term of five years.
The Special cell sleuths had nabbed Madaripur native Jalal
of Bangladesh in 2006 from south-west Delhi along with maps of
cantonment area having markings with pencil in Urdu. A
detailed diagram of information exchange and telephone
exchange network of cantonment was also recovered among other
documents.
Jalal during interrogation told the special cell that the
"restricted" documents were handed to him by one Aslam who had
asked him to hand them over to somebody in Bangladesh.
The Special Cell later arrested Aslam, who was found to be
a Pakistani national Mohd. Muzaffar Khan from Karachi. He was
residing in India under the fake name of Aslam and had managed
to procure various documents like driving license, passport,
PAN card, ATM card etc in his fake name.
The duo were charge sheeted for spying, illegally staying
in India, hatching criminal conspiracy and committing forgery
under various provisions of the Official Secrets Act, the
Foreigners Act and the India Penal Code.
The prosecution had examined 26 witnesses, including
several Army personnel and an erstwhile Parliamentarian to
prove the case against the duo.
Lieutenant Colonel KS Kanwar (Intelligence), in his
deposition, told the court "the documents recovered from the
accused were restricted ones and can be used by the enemy
country to harm the security, sovereignty and integrity of the
state."
Another witness, erstwhile MP Ajay Chakravorty from 24
Pargana (North) in West Bengal told the court the residence
certificate issued on his letter head that Jalal had been
using, had been issued by him to a local native Ali Rakman
Gazi.
"It has also been proved that the accused Mohd Muzaffar
Khan has forged the driving licence and the PAN and was
residing in India under changed name. It has been proved that
both accused were residing in India unauthorisedly," the ASJ
said.
PTI
