ABDULVAHAB ABDUL MAJID SHAIKH Vs. STATE OF GUJARAT

JUDGEMENT

(1.) All these appeals arise out of a Common Judgment in TADA Crime Case No. 4/1995 and TADA Crime Case No. 27/1996 delivered by the Additional Designated Judge at Ahmedabad.

(2.) There were 11 accused persons before the Designated Court charged for various offences under the Indian Penal Code (IPC), TADA Act, Indian Passport Act, Motor Vehicles Act and Bombay Police Act. By the impugned judgment, A-1 to A- 4 and A-9 were convicted for the offences punishable u/s. 120B of the Indian Penal Code and under Ss. 342, 365 and 384 of the Indian Penal Code read with Sec. 120B of the Indian Penal Code, but all the accused were acquitted of various other charges framed against them. Out of the 5 accused convicted by the designated court, 3 of them have filed Criminal Appeal No. 525/2004 and the two other appeals before us have been preferred by the State of Gujarat challenging the acquittal of the other accused.

(3.) The case of the prosecution was that PW 3 Jayendra Mahendra Tripathi was a builder having a construction company of his own. He was also working as a teacher during the relevant period and staying in Kundan Apartment in Vasna area in Ahmedabad. The office of the construction company was in Deep Apartment at Vasna. He used to go to his office in the evening. On 19.1.1994, he left his house at 4.00 p.m. on way to the office. Walking towards office, when he reached the place near Vasna Bus Stand, a Maruti van came and stopped near him. He was shown a visiting card by the occupants of the van to enquire about the address mentioned thereon. While PW 3 Jayendra Mahendra Tripathi was reading the visiting card, somebody pushed him from behind and he was forced into the Maruti van. Inside the van, his head and face were covered with a woolen cap. 5-6 persons were sitting in the Maruti van and after the victim was forced into the van, the van moved and travelled for 30-45 minutes and eventually he was taken to the cellar of a building. There, the victim gave the telephone number of his construction company, but as there was no response from that telephone number, he gave the telephone number of his friend K.K. Vaidh. PW 3 Jayendra Mahendra Tripathi was kept in a room in that building and according to the prosecution, the accused persons made a demand of Rs. 5 lakhs from the partners of the construction company.