02, Oct 2015

Written by Milind Ghatwai | Bhopal | Published:October 2, 2015 2:47 am
As a Khandwa court absolved 14 people, including a Sikh and a Christian, of the charge of working for the banned Students’ Islamic Movement of India (SIMI), it found the investigators depending on a translator who admitted not knowing enough Urdu and the police failing to distinguish between translation and transcription while building its case. However, five accused in the case — including Babbu alias Bablia Lukas Dominique — were sentenced to three years imprisonment each under the Arms Act.
On June 13, 2011, the Khandwa police had raided a house in Gulmohar Colony following a tip off about a secret SIMI meeting. The police had recovered small arms and a lot of extremist literature, including books, CDs and pamphlets. While the accused said it was a right-wing plot to frame them, the sub-inspector who led the raid — Hardev Singh Gaur — claimed to have heard the occupants talk about “continuing Jihad despite arrests of some SIMI activists”.