Aijaz Shaikh, an alleged Indian Mujahideen (IM) operative who was sentenced to death for the February 2013 Hyderabad terror attack, was on Friday, August 2, at Special MCOCA Court in Mumbai in a 2010 case related to sending an email on behalf of the banned outfit and warning about terror strikes in New Delhi.
Special MCOCA judge BD Shelke on Friday acquitted Shaikh for want of evidence. However, the detailed order was not available yet. Aijaz Shaikh, who once worked in a BPO and is considered tech-savvy, is currently lodged in a jail in Hyderabad.
In February 2015, Shaikh was arrested by the Mumbai Crime Branch in the terror mail case, which was registered on October 10, 2010, in connection with a mail sent to the United Kingdom-based BBC news channel warning that IM would carry out terror strikes in the national capital.
A probe suggested the email was sent from south Mumbai and police zeroed in on Shaikh, who is accused of sending it from his mobile phone. Shaikh was charged with forgery for obtaining a SIM card in the name of another person and using it for sending threatening emails.
The prosecution examined eight witnesses, which included the owner of the shop from where Shaikh purchased SIM cards on fake identity documents. Advocate Hasnain Kazi, appearing for the accused, had contended the IP address mentioned in the FIR showed it belonged to Norway.
No expert witness was examined to prove the email was sent from Mumbai, Kazi further argued. Shaikh was made a scapegoat because the investigating authority failed to trace the true accused, Kazi submitted. Shaikh is also facing trials in the July 2011 serial explosions in Zaveri Bazar, Opera House and Kabutar Khana in which 21 people were killed.