JAVED ALI Vs. NATIONAL INVESTIGATION AGENCY

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The present appeal under Sec. 21(4) of the National Investigation Agency Act, 2008 read with Sec. 482 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973, (for short, 'CrPC') seeks the following prayers:--

(2.) The case of the NIA-Respondent against the present Appellant, as per the reply dtd. 21/8/2024, filed to the present appeal is as under: -

(3.) Learned Counsel appearing on behalf of the Appellant has submitted that the latter is a permanent resident of District Muzaffarpur, Uttar Pradesh and had been working in Saudi Arabia as a labourer/carpenter for his livelihood. It is further submitted that, even as per the case of the prosecution, he had never met Accused No. 1, i.e., Shaikh Abdul Naeem @ Sohel Khan (A-1). Learned Counsel has further contended that the Appellant is a victim of circumstances and has been falsely implicated for alleged attempted delivery of sum of Rs.3.5 Lakhs to Accused No. 1. It was pointed out that the case of the prosecution is that the present Appellant (arrayed as Accused No. 11 in the chargesheet) was living in Saudi Arabia at that relevant point in time and it was Gul Nawaz (A-10), who was raising, receiving, collecting and sending funds from Saudi Arabia to India through illegal (Hawala/Hundi) channels and, in India, the accused, who has now become approver, Abdul Samad (originally arrayed as Accused No. 5 in the chargesheet; AW-2/A- 5), was collecting the said money from Dinesh Garg (A-6) and Adish Kumar Jain (A-7) and had attempted to disburse the said money, as per the directions of Gul Nawaz (A-10), to Shaikh Abdul Naeem @ Sohel Khan (A-1), who is an active operative of Lashkar-E-Taiba (for short, 'LeT'), a proscribed organization in India. It is also the case of the prosecution that the Appellant had sent a sum of Rs.3.5 Lakhs to Gul Nawaz (A-10), who had further sent the said money to Dinesh Garg (A-6). It is pointed out by learned counsel for the Appellant that the learned Special Judge, NIA, vide order on framing of charge dtd. 10/6/2022 had discharged all the aforesaid four proposed accused persons, i.e., the said approver Abdul Samad (A-5), Dinesh Garg (A-6), Adish Kumar Jain (A-7) and Gul Nawaz (A-10).