The Supreme Court on Friday upheld the conviction of a former Jammu and Kashmir bank manager, who was an associate of Maulana Massod Azhar, under the now defunct Terrorist and Disruptive Activities (Prevention) Act for being involved in activities to defy territorial integrity of India. A bench comprising Justice K T Thomas and Justice S N Variava in its 12-page judgement rejected the contention of the former bank official Nazir Ahmed Bhatt that the police had taken his confessional statement without warning him that the same would be used against him during the trial.

After discussing the case and evidence, Justice Thomas, writing the judgement for the bench, said, “We are inclined to believe that confession was voluntarily made by him. The seizure of stickers and other material from his house would only lend assurance to the court that the confession contained only the truth.
Police had alleged that Bhatt had confessed of being in touch with Azhar, a noted terrorist who was exchanged by India for getting back the passengers of an Indian Airlines plane hijacked to Kandahar in 1999, and a Harkat-ul-Ansar militant Mohd Asraf Dar.
He had also confessed of receiving Rs 25 lakh from Sharjah through hawala for use in connection with terrorist activities, the police had said.
The trial court had sentenced him to five years imprisonment besides a fine of Rs 5,000. Bhatt continued the appeal in the apex court even after serving the entire sentence period with the hope that acquittal would get him back the job in the bank. Bureau Report