New Delhi, Feb 13 (IANS): The Supreme Court has granted bail to Romesh Kumar, an assistant sub-inspector of the Border Security Force (BSF), in connection with the Handwara narco-terror probe.

Romesh Kumar allegedly connived with drug traffickers linked to terror groups when he was posted with the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) on deputation and investigated drug traffickers' networks in Baramulla and Handwara regions.

“The appellant (Romesh Kumar) was arrested on 1st March, 2021 and since then, he is in custody. There are 15 accused persons. Out of 361 prosecution witnesses, only six witnesses have been examined as of today. Thus, it is apparent that the trial is not likely to be concluded within a reasonable time,” said a bench of Justices Abhay S. Oka and Ujjal Bhuyan as it granted bail to the accused.

The Justice Oka-led Bench noted that no criminal antecedents of the appellant have been brought on record and when the trial is not likely to be concluded within a reasonable time, the accused should be enlarged on bail subject to stringent terms and conditions including the condition of deposit of passport and condition of regularly and punctually attending the trial proceedings for early disposal of the case.

“We direct that the appellant shall be produced before the Trial Court within a maximum period of one week from today. The Trial Court shall enlarge the appellant on bail till the conclusion of trial on stringent terms and conditions including the aforesaid two conditions,” it added.

The top court clarified that if the accused delays the trial in any manner, it will be open for the prosecution to apply for cancellation of bail granted to the appellant. After going through the entire statement of Showkat Ahmed Parray, the apex court, in its judgment, said that it did “not find any material” to implicate the BSF official.

“The witness is an approver. In fact, in the statement, he (Showkat Ahmed Parray) has stated that he does not know why the appellant (Romesh Kumar) has been arraigned as an accused. He claimed that one Salim (co-accused) had given cash to the appellant which was recovered from him. He further stated that personally he was not aware on what basis the appellant was involved in the case,” it added.

Further, it said that “prima facie”, a very “strange and doubtful procedure” was adopted during the investigation as the photo identification memo recorded that certain witnesses were shown a photograph of the appellant and the witnesses identified the photograph.

“We are not recording any final finding about the manner in which Photo Identification Memo (PIM) has been made as it may affect the trial,” said the Justice Oka-led Bench.

The apex court said that as of today, nothing is shown to link the recovery of Rs 91 lakh from the appellant to the offences alleged.

In a major recovery, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) had seized cash to the tune of Rs 91 lakh concealed in a field in Jammu and Kashmir village in Samba district.

An NIA spokesperson had said Rs 91 lakh in cash was dug up from a field in Gurwal village, following the disclosures made by the five accused.

While the NIA had arrested Altaf Ahmed Shah, Showkat Ahmad Parray, Mudasir Ahmad Dar and Amin Allaie aka Hilal Mir from Srinagar on March 1, the BSF personnel, Romesh Kumar was arrested on March 3, 2021.

Romesh Kumar, an assistant sub-inspector of the BSF from Handwara, was the second security personnel to be arrested in Jammu and Kashmir since January 2020 for allegedly helping militants.

The NIA had earlier arrested Deputy Superintendent of Police Davinder Singh for helping Hizbul militants.

As per an official, probe revealed that Romesh Kumar had received the cash proceeds of drugs from the drug smugglers based in Kashmir Valley for himself as well as for further channeling to different terrorist entities.

The NIA case relates to the case registered by the J&K Police wherein during checking of vehicles in Handwara, accused Abdul Momin Peer's Hyundai Creta vehicle was intercepted by police at a naka and during searches Rs 20 lakh along with two kg heroin was recovered and seized.

A chargesheet was filed against six accused persons in the NIA special court, Jammu. The investigation further revealed that the accused persons were involved in cross-border smuggling of heroin in huge quantities from Pakistan and were supplying the same in J&K and other parts of the country.

The accused were also in regular communication with the operatives of proscribed terrorist organisations Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) and Hizb-ul-Mujahideen (HM), using encrypted chat platforms.

The proceeds of sale were allegedly being used to finance the activities of terrorist organisation Lashkar-e-Taiba operating in the Kashmir Valley.