SHAIK MOULALI Vs. STATE OF TRIPURA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The petitioners namely, Shaik Moulali, Beerappa Parameshwar Ravi and Chandrasekharan Nair by means of this petition have challenged the final police report being Charge Sheet No.14/2012 dated 12.12.2012 which has observed that on the prima-facie materials it is required that the petitioners be tried under Sections 121-A of the I.P.C. and Sections 17/18/39/40 of Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act and the order dated 20.12.2012 passed by the Chief Judicial Magistrate, West Tripura, Agartala for taking cognizance of those offences against the petitioners.

(2.) The undisputed fact is that the petitioners are the officers of a company called Coastal Projects Ltd. which was engaged for construction of border fencing along the Indo-Bangladesh Border. The said company was acting as a subsidiary of the National Projects Construction Corporation Ltd. which is a Govt. of India enterprise and the principal agency for construction of the said work. The said company has been working in the State of Tripura since 2004 through its North East vertical control office. From the very inception of the work, the officers of the company started receiving threats from the banned extremist groups across the border. The officers of the company were abducted and killed in some occasions. Eight personnel with a space of few years were abducted, two personnel were killed and huge damage to the properties occurred. On all the occasions the State and its police including the Border Security Force were informed and urged to provide the security cover for its officials. Several correspondences in this regard have been annexed with this criminal petition. At one point of time, when out of apprehension the Coastal Projects Ltd. stopped work, the Ministry of Home Affairs expressed their displeasure. The work recommenced on assurance of the proper security from the law and order enforcement authorities including the Chief Secretary of this State. It has been further stated that one of the alleged over ground agents of the NLFT, a banned extremists outfit, was arrested with huge cash and accordingly, a First Information Report was lodged at the instance of one Inspector of police, the respondent No.2 and pursuant to that F.I.R. Radhapur Police Station case No.09 of 20122 under Sections 120-B/153- A/121/121-A/123/386/34 of the I.P.C. and Sections 10/13/17 of the Unlawful Activities of (Prevention) Act was registered.

(3.) During investigation, it surfaced that the arrested over ground agent of the banned extremist namely, Dhanu Koloy had received money from one youth and he was on the way to hand over the money to the NLFT for purchase of illegal arms etc. It has surfaced during investigation that the petitioners' company had allegedly paid the said amount for security and release of the persons abducted by the NLFT. The investigating agency asked the company to cooperate them in the investigation. The petitioners had cooperated throughout and for their cooperation a few hardcore extremists and the NLFT cadres were booked by the police. Indisputably the statement of the petitioner, Shaik Moulali was recorded under Section 161 of the Cr.P.C. On the face of serious threat by the NLFT, the petitioners' company allegedly paid the ransom. Be that as it may, after completion of the investigation and having due sanction from the competent authority, the petitioners were charge-sheeted. The moment the petitioners received process from the court, they obtained pre arrest bail and on 21.01.2013 the petitioners were granted regular bail.