The Gujarat high court issued notice to the National Investigation Agency (NIA) in response to a bail plea filed by Mumbai-based businessman, Birju Salla alias Amar Soni, after hi was sentenced to life imprisonment under the amended anti-hijacking law.
A division bench has admitted Salla’s appeal against his conviction for planting a threat note in a lavatory of a Mumbai-Delhi Jet Airways flight in October 2017. The letter had said that hijackers were on board and that the aircraft would be “flown straight to PoK”.
It had warned that “people would die” if efforts were made to land the aircraft elsewhere and added that a bomb had been planted in the cargo area. The flight then made an emergency landing in Ahmedabad, where Salla was booked for his mischief. The high court also sought a reply from the NIA by 29th August over Salla’s request to suspend his sentence during pendency of his appeal. During their submissions before a division bench Salla’s advocates pointed out the question of credibility of the threat note. They argued that the prosecution failed to establish the credibility of the note allegedly planted by Salla.
It was also submitted that the NIA’s case did not mention, nor did the trial court’s order attribute motive to Salla’s planting of the threat note.
Salla’s conviction was the first conviction under the amended anti-hijacking laws of 2016. The minimum punishment prescribed upon being found guilty is life imprisonment. Besides awarding minimum sentence, the NIA court imposed a Rs 5 crore fine on Salla. From this amount, the court ordered compensation of Rs 1 lakh each to the pilot and the co-pilot, Rs 50,000 each to two flight attendants and Rs 25,000 each to all the 116 passengers on board.
Gujarat HC notice to NIA in response to bail plea filed by Mumbai-based businessman Birju Salla
