Mumbai: The prosecution failed to establish a link of accused Ajaz Shaikh with the banned organisation Indian Mujahideen (IM), the special court observed while acquitting Shaikh on Friday in a 2010 case related to sending an email on behalf of the banned outfit, taking responsibility for the terror attack at Jama Masjid, Delhi on September 19, 2010. Shaikh was charged with forgery for obtaining a SIM card in the name of one Purva Shinde and using it for sending threatening emails.
The court said, “There is no iota of evidence on record showing that this accused was a member of the banned organisation ‘Indian Mujahideen’. There is no iota of evidence showing that this accused along with the wanted accused hatched a conspiracy and in pursuance of said criminal conspiracy continued and did unlawful activity for and on behalf of Indian Mujahideen and sent the said email as alleged by the prosecution.”
Further, the court said, “There is no evidence on record showing that the accused has forged and fabricated driving license in the name of Purwa Shinde and used such forged and fabricated documents as genuine for procuring SIM card.”
Shaikh was arrested in 2014 for his roles in several attacks in India and has also been awarded the death penalty in connection with the February 2013 terror attack in Hyderabad. Shaikh is also facing a trial for his role in Mumbai's 13/7 terror attack case.
The agencies had claimed that Shaikh was an active member of IM and he was initiated into the outfit by his father-in-law Mohsin Choudhary who was inspired by Jihadi literature. It is claimed that Shaikh had good knowledge of computers which he had acquired at Hyderabad. He was most often referred to as the logistic man in the organization and is also alleged to have supplied explosives at the time of the German Bakery blast in Pune.
