The favourable verdict in the Batla House encounter case for the Delhi police is largely being attributed to the painstaking investigations conducted by the special cell in the case which helped the city police prepare a foolproof chargesheet resulting in the first ever conviction of an Indian Mujahideen operative, Shahzad Ahmed.
The city police had faced severe flak from various political quarters with doubts being raised over the authenticity of the encounter in which a special cell officer, inspector Mohan Chand Sharma, was shot dead along with two IM operatives.
Highly-placed city police sources said investigations conducted into the case were “extremely difficult’’ as only special cell officers were witness to the encounter. Knowing fully well that their version of the events that unfolded at the L-18 flat, the scene of the encounter, would be taken with a pinch of salt the Delhi police had to conduct a thorough scientific investigation into the case.
The biggest challenge for the special cell was to prove Shahzad’s presence at the L-18 flat on the day and time of the counter in 2008. This was even more difficult, as according to special cell’s version, Shahzad had managed to escape from the L-18 flat by jumping from the balcony while the encounter was on. Shahzad, a resident of Azamgarh, was subsequently arrested by the Anti-terrorist Squad of Uttar Pradesh Police in 2010.
The special cell sleuths did a thorough scientific and technical investigations into the case. They tracked each and every movement of Shahzad before and on day of the encounter through his mobile phone. Shahzad’s movement was conclusively tracked with the help of cell phone tower location. Thus, on the date of encounter, September 29, 2008, Shahzad’s mobile phone location, was tracked to a cell tower in Zakir Nagar area which serviced the Batla House locality also.
This piece of technical evidence was strongly corroborated by eyewitnesses which included some special cell officials. Importantly, the police also managed to conclusively prove that Shahzad was in constant touch with Atif Amin, the mastermind behind the serial bombings and a key IM operative. Atif Amin along with Mohammed Sajid was killed in the Batla House encounter along with inspector Sharma.
“The call data record (CDR) of Shahzad revealed that a number of phone calls were exchanged between him and Amin which proved he was part of the IM module. Then a laptop recovered from the flat also gave details of Shahzad’s activities in the IM,’’a senior police official said. Further, the cell phone movement showed that Shahzad had visited the Karol Bagh and Children’s Park area where he was suspected to have planted two bombs during the serial blasts in Delhi in September, 2008.
Interestingly, the conviction in the Batla House encounter is also unique in a way as the accused was held guilty even though the weapon of offence was never recovered. Shahzad told investigators after his arrest that he had dumped the revolver with which inspector Sharma was shot dead in Gang Nahar near Muradnagar.