A Delhi court acquitted three Muslim men arrested on the charges by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) for bein affiliated to the Indian Mujahideen (IM), the Hindu reported.
The trio was languishing in jails for several years.
The discharged are Abdul Wahid (arrested since 2016), Manzar Imam (since 2013) and Ariz Khan, who had been sentencted to death in the Batla House encounter case of 2008 and was also discharged.
The trial court took almost a decade to discharge three Muslim men.
Additional Sessions Judge Shailender Malik of the Patiala House Court framed charges against 11 accused in the case, mostly under various sections of stringent UAPA.
In September 2012, the National Investigation Agency filed a case against a number of Muslim men in India, alleging that they were members of IM and IM modules with bases there. The agency claimed that they were working together to plan terrorist attacks like bombings at well-known locations throughout India.
According to allegations made by the NIA, Sidibappa played a key role in directing money for terrorism received from Islamic State (IS) operatives in Pakistan through hawala transactions through Dubai for use by IS operatives in carrying out terrorist activities. However, the charges were dismissed by the court.
The court further stated that while sending money through a hawala network may be against the law, it does not necessarily constitute a violation of Section 17 of the UAPA.
Manzar Imam’s lawyer, Abu bakr Sabbaq, stated in court that Imam was with SIMI because it was one of the largest Muslim student organisations and that Imam had previously been found guilty for having ties to SIMI in a case that had been filed in Kerala. He claimed that Imam was exonerated in a few clubbed FIRs in Ahmedabad.