Gujarat HC quashes NIA court order which sentenced businessman to life imprisonment for leaving hijack threat note on flight
The Hindu
The special National Investigation Agency (NIA) court in Ahmedabad on June 11, 2019 sentenced Salla to life imprisonment under the Anti-Hijacking Act, 2016, and imposed a fine of ₹5 crore for leaving a hijack threat note on a Mumbai-Delhi flight in October 2017.
The Gujarat High Court on August 8 quashed and set aside a 2019 order of a NIA court sentencing a businessman to life imprisonment for leaving a hijack threat note on a Mumbai-Delhi flight in 2017, saying the trial court sentenced him for the offence of hijacking "on the premise of evidence which is tainted with doubt."
Businessman Birju Salla was the first person to be booked under the stringent Anti-Hijacking Act, 2016.
The NIA had filed a chargesheet against him under sections 3(1), 3(2)(a) and 4(b) of the Anti-Hijacking Act, 2016.
A division bench of HC Justices A. S. Supehia and M. R. Mengdey said the appellant (Salla) is acquitted from the offences under sections 3(1) and 3(2)(a) of the Act. As a sequel the sentence under section 4(b) of the Act is set aside, it added.
The HC also directed that ₹5 crore fine which Salla was ordered to pay be refunded in case it is already paid.
The special National Investigation Agency (NIA) court in Ahmedabad on June 11, 2019 sentenced Salla to life imprisonment under the Anti-Hijacking Act, 2016, and imposed a fine of ₹5 crore for leaving a hijack threat note on a Mumbai-Delhi flight in October 2017.
Also read | Jeweller from Mumbai is first on India’s no-fly list
Pune luxury car crash: Police custody for Shivani and Vishal Agarwal in destruction of evidence case
Shivani and Vishal Agarwal remanded to police custody for swapping blood samples in luxury car crash case.