Court discharges six accused of running organised crime syndicate for want of sufficient evidence

A Delhi court has discharged six persons including the kingpin accused of running an organised crime syndicate for want of sufficient evidence.

These accused were booked by Delhi Police under the stringent Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA). A case under MCOCA was registered at Police station Seelampur, Delhi in 2015.

It was alleged that these accused were running organised crime syndicates and acquired properties through criminal activities.

Additional Sessions Judge (ASJ) Pulastya Pramachala of Karkardooma Court discharged six accused namely Afsar, Irfan alias Chhennu, Nabbir alias Sabbir, Mumtaz alias Wahid, Mohd Asif and Nadeem alias Dhobi of the offences under sections of MCOCA.

"I find that the prosecution has wrongly reached the conclusion that accused persons indulged in committing an organised crime. In absence of establishing organized crime, there remains no occasion to look into the allegations of the accused being members of a crime syndicate or the allegations of income from the organized crime and wealth acquired out of such income because to establish these allegations, the organised crime must be shown to have been committed," ASJ Pramachala said.

"Hence, I find all accused persons, in this case, entitled to discharge, for want of satisfying the essential ingredients of organised crime. Accordingly, all accused persons are discharged of the charges levelled against them, in this case," the judge said on October 17, 2022.

The court observed in the order that in absence of the organised crime being proved, there cannot be any question of a property being presumed to be acquired out of proceeds of such organised crime.

Similarly, it is not proved that the complainant in FIR 537/15 PS Seelampur was abducted. Rather, the accused in this FIR has been acquitted. Therefore, inferences/presumptions raised by the prosecution are without any basis, he added.

These six accused persons had been charge-sheeted by the police for having committed offences punishable under Sections 3(1), 3(4), 3(5) & 4 of the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act, 1999 (MCOCA).

The prosecution alleged that continuous unlawful activities of a gang consisting of Afsar, Irfan, Iqbal Gazi, Mirajuddin, Saluddin, Haji Afjal, Kamaluddin, Jamal alias Ranjha, Umar alias Pau and others were observed during the investigation of various cases.

It was observed that Afsar had been the kingpin of the gang.

It was further argued that the latest incident satisfying the criterion of organised crime must be there, to trigger and launch a case under MCOCA. Thus, there must be three cases satisfying organized crime.

It was further argued that acquittal in FIR No.537/15 means that no such activity took place, hence, acquittal assumes importance as it washes away allegations of continuing activity totrigger this case.

Advocate S N Qureshi on behalf of the accused Afsar argue that the Father of Afsar was running a dairy at Loni, Ghaziabad, which is a legal source of income. He further argued that the accused is already acquitted in nine cases.

Senior advocate K K Manan, counsel for accused Irfan alias Chhennu, argued that properties shown to be owned by the accused are ancestral properties.

On the other hand, it was argued by Additional public prosecutor Masood Ahmed that it is presumed under Section 17(2) of the Act that the accused acquired these properties out of illegal activities. He further argued that the house of the accused has been recently constructed and his brother does not have any known source of income.

( With inputs from ANI )