STATE Vs. RAHAMATHULLAH KHAN

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The accused/respondents herein, who were arrayed as A-1 and A-8, were charged and tried before the learned Sessions Judge, Sessions Court for Exclusive Trial of Bomb Blast Cases, Poonamallee, Chennai, in S.C. No.14/01 for the offences u/s 307 r/w 120 (B), 148, 307, 307 r/w 149 IPC and Section 4 (a) of the Explosive Substances Act , 1908 r/w 149 IPC and the trial court found that the prosecution, having not proved the case as against the accused beyond reasonable doubt, the trial court acquitted the accused. The State, aggrieved by the said order of acquittal has preferred the present appeal. For the sake of convenience, the accused/respondents herein will be referred to as accused.

(2.) The brief facts, necessary for disposal of this appeal, are as hereunder :- P.W.1 is the Inspector of Golden Rock Police Station, Trichy; P.W.2 is his personal security guard and P.W.34 is the driver of the jeep allotted to P.W.1. It is the case of the respondents that on 4.6.98, at about 13.12 hours, when P.W.1 was proceeding in his official vehicle driven by P.W.34 along with his security guard, P.W.3, when the vehicle neared the Armoury Gate Road at the Golden Rock Area, the accused, viz., A-1 to A-6, who are alleged to be cadres belonging to the terrorist outfit, Al Umma, followed the jeep in which P.W.1 was travelling. The accused, viz., A-1, A-2 and A-3, who were in possession of hand grenades and A-1 was the pillion rider in the second motorcycle, came by the left side of the vehicle and on getting signal from the pillion rider in the first motorcycle, threw the hand grenade into the jeep in which P.W.1 was travelling and sped away from the scene of occurrence. P.W.1, however, caught the hand grenade and threw it out and tried to follow the motorcycle in an attempt to catch the accused, but the accused evaded his attempts and escaped from the scene. After placing a security guard at the place where the grenade was thrown to safeguard the evidence, P.W.1 proceeded to the police station and, thereafter, submitted a report to his higher official and on the directions of the higher official, based on the complaint, Ex.P-1, given by P.W.1, a case in Crime No.108/98 was registered by P.W.36, the Sub Inspector of Police, who prepared printed FIR, Ex.P-15.

(3.) On receipt of the FIR, Ex.P-15, P.W.46, the investigating officer, took up investigation. He went to the scene of occurrence at about 2.20 p.m. and in the presence of witness, P.W.6, he prepared the observation mahazar, Ex.P-2 and drew the rough sketch, Ex.P-20. The hand grenade, which was alleged to have been thrown at P.W.1 was recovered under the cover of mahazar and the same were forwarded to the jurisdictional court under Form-95. Continuing with the investigation, P.W.46, examined P.W.2 and P.W.34, who were riding in the vehicle along with P.W.1 and recorded their statements. He examined P.W.s 4, 6 and other witnesses and recorded their statements.