Mumbai: The Bombay High Court has suspended the life sentence awarded to Afroz Khan Pathan, in the 2006 Aurangabad arms haul case after observing that there was no prima facie evidence to prove that Pathan had visited Bangladesh to collect funds for terror activities in India – as claimed by two co-accused in their confessionals.
Pathan was arrested in 2006 and was released on bail recently after 17 years in jail, news agency IANS reported.
A division bench comprising Justice Revati Mohite-Dere and Justice Gauri Godse said in their order that neither of the confessions referring to Pathan prima facie show that he had in fact gone to Bangladesh and got funds, or that he had knowledge or reason to believe the purpose for which he was sent there or the larger conspiracy.
Allowing Pathan’s bail plea filed in 2017, the court also considered that Pathan had spent 17 years in jail during which he completed his BA and MA.
A special Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA) court had convicted Pathan under various provisions of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act for conspiracy to strike terror and awarded him a life-term, though he was acquitted for certain other offences under different laws.
