Mumbai: A sessions court has set aside the conviction of three people who were held guilty by a magistrate court for allegedly helping a Pakistani national, arrested in 2005, prepare forged documents to continue staying in India. The court acquitted the trio citing poor investigation.
Sessions judge Kunal Jadav, while setting aside the conviction, noted that the investigating officer got carried away with the information provided by the alleged Pakistani national and implicated three people without gathering cogent evidence. The court also observed that the magistrate court “hastily came to the conclusion and convicted the accused on totally erroneous findings.”
The metropolitan magistrate court at Esplanade had, on March 27, 2018, convicted UP resident Rajendra Mishra, Colaba resident Laik Khan, and Sayyed Haider Gulam Raja for allegedly helping Mohammad Azhar Rafiq prepare forged documents to show he was an Indian national. According to the prosecution, Rafiq, a resident of Rahimyaarkhan in Pakistan’s Punjab province, was staying in India under the false identity of Sarang Ali Khan and was arrested on January 6, 2005.
Investigators claimed he had entered India in February 2001 on a Bangladeshi passport in the name of Azad Mian and later travelled to Kolkata and Ajmer before settling in Mumbai. In Mumbai, he worked as a TV mechanic at Sweet Sound Electronics in Colaba. The agency alleged that he later secured documents, including a passport, using forged papers.
The prosecution claimed Mishra helped obtain a fake school-leaving certificate, which was used to prepare other documents. During the trial, Rafiq pleaded guilty and was convicted. However, the sessions court said, “The facts as per the evidence of the case is a fit example of poor prosecution and shabby investigation.”
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