(1.) THESE three appeals have been preferred by Noor Mohd. Tantray, Parvez Ahmed Mir, Farooz Ahmed, Raees-uz-Zama, and Atique-uz-Zama, who for the sake of convenience have been referred to as A1, A2, A3, A4 and A5. A4 and A5 are brothers. The appellants, i.e., the five accused, have been convicted under Sections 3(3), 3(5) and 4 of Prevention of Terrorism Act, 2002 (hereinafter referred to as, POTA) and sentenced to life imprisonment and fine of Rs.5,000/- for each offence. The appellants have been convicted under Section 20 of POTA and sentenced to Rigorous Imprisonment for 10 years and fine of Rs.5,000/- each. The appellants have also been convicted under Sections 121, 121A and 122 of the Indian Penal Code, 1860 (IPC, for short) and sentenced to life imprisonment and fine of Rs.5,000/- each and Section 123 IPC and sentenced to Rigorous Imprisonment for 10 years and fine of Rs.5,000/- each. The appellants have been convicted under Sections 4 and 5 of the Explosive Substances Act, 1908 and have been sentenced to life imprisonment and Rigorous Imprisonment for 10 years, respectively, with fine of Rs.5,000/- on each count.
(2.) IN the charge sheet, one Rajender Prasad Goel was arraigned as an accused, but in view of exculpating findings of the POTA Review Committee an application was moved by him before the Sessions Court and the case against him, was withdrawn vide order dated 18th February, 2005.
(3.) TO prove and establish recovery of 10 hand grenades, 10 grenade shells and one grenade launcher on 30th August, 2003 from A1 to A3, the prosecution relies upon the testimonies of police officers SI Umesh Barthwal (PW-33), Inspector Hridey Bhushan (PW-43), ASI Rakesh Ahluwalia (PW-39), Inspector Arvind Kumar (PW-35) and Inspector Govind Sharma (PW-49). The prosecution also relies upon the statement of public witness Sanjay Rai (PW-41), a parking attendant at the Qutub Road parking.