Abdulvahab Abdulmajid Shaikh & Ors vs State Of Gujarat

The prosecution case was that the accused persons hatched a criminal conspiracy to kidnap PW 7 Vedprakash Devkinandan Chidipal and extort a ransom of Rs. 1 crore from him. One Sherjada (now deceased) called the assistance of A-12 Musakhan @ Babakhan Ismailkhan, A-11 Jahangir Mahammadanwar Saiyed and A-1 Abdulvahab and together they planned to kidnap PW 7 Chidipal. The other accused namely, A-2, A-3, A-8 and A-14 were also present. In pursuance of their common object, on 22.2.1994 they all went to Pirana Road in a Maruti car, a Maruti Van and a Yamaha motorcycle. PW 7 Chidipal was found going in a Maruti 1000 car and his vehicle was driven by one Sangramsinh. The Maruti car wherein some of the accused-appellants were travelling overtook the Maruti 1000 car driven by Sangramsinh and made that car to stop. One of the accused opened the door of the Maruti 1000 car near the driver's seat, pushed the driver from his seat and took control of the vehicle. Two other accused entered the car and sat on either side of PW 7 Chidipal. The car was driven to Octroi-Naka and after sometime, driver Sangramsinh was pushed out of the car. PW 7 Chidipal was then moved to a White Maruti van and his eyes were bandaged with cotton. He was taken to a room and confined there for two days. The accused took the telephone numbers of the brothers of PW 7 Chidipal. PW 11 Jaiprakash, brother of Chidipal was contacted and told that he shall not inform the police and a sum of Rs. 1 crore was demanded from him. Nobody came forward to give money to the accused. On 24.2.1994, PW 11 Jaiprakash was contacted again and told to reach the house of PW 9 Sattar. PW 11 Jaiprakash and one Shivbhagwan went to the house of PW 9 Sattar in a white Maruti car with four bags. Again, PW 11 Jaipakash was told to go to Anjuman High School at Astodia and was directed to leave his Maruti car behind a rickshaw. They left the Maruti car behind the rickshaw and came back to the house of PW 9 Sattar Bhai. At about 10.00 p.m. on that day, PW 7 Chidipal came back to his house. Sangramsinh the driver of PW 7 Chidipal went to Vatva Police Station. He gave a First Information statement to the Police Inspector and investigation started pursuant to his statement. The Maruti 1000 car owned by PW 7 Chidipal was found parked by the side of the road. It was recovered under Exh. 182-B Panchnama. PW 24 Police Inspector searched the house of A-7 Salim Noormahammad Haveliwala and recovered a diary which contained the telephone number of Chidipal Textile Mill. A-9 Prakash Shobhnath was arrested on 2.6.1994 and a sum of Rs. 50,000/- was recovered in the course of investigation and the accused A-1 Abdulvahab, A-3 Najirmahammad Vora, A-5 Salauddin Haveliwala, A-6 Mahammadrafik and A-8 Abdulsattar were arrested. The Yamaha motorcycle allegedly used by the accused was also recovered. The first appellant produced Rs. 1,50,000/- before the Investigating Officer. On 11.8.1994, the Investigating Officer requested the State to invoke the provisions of the TADA Act against the accused and a report was sent to the DCP. PW 27 Shri B.R. Patil was entrusted with the task of investigation.

Taking all these factors into consideration, we do not find any difficulty in accepting the confession made by A-12 Musakhan @ Babakhan. The confession given by him cannot be said to be a figment of his imagination, but appears to be a true account of the events of kidnapping and extortion of money. Therefore, we do not find any illegality in the conviction as recorded against these accused-appellants. The Criminal Appeal No. 1228/2004 filed by the accused is without any merits and is liable to be dismissed.

Criminal Appeal No. 129/2005 and Criminal Appeal No. 130/2005 are filed by the State against the acquittal of some of the accused and also against the acquittal of some accused for certain other offences for which they were charged. Going by the evidence on record, we do not find any merit in the contentions advanced by the State. The accused have been convicted only for the offences where there was satisfactory evidence against them. As regards acquittal of other accused, we find no merit in the contentions raised by the State. Accordingly, these appeals are liable to be dismissed.

In the result, all the appeals are without any merits and are dismissed.