New Delhi: As the controversy brews over the Netflix series IC 814 on the hijacking of Indian Airlines by Pakistani terrorists in 1999, one of the accused in the case, Abdul Latif Momin, has his appeal pending in the Supreme Court of India challenging life imprisonment term handed to him by the Punjab and Haryana High court in 2014.
The case was taken up for hearing by the Supreme Court last on November 2023.
Abdul Latif Momin, one of the two Indian nationals arrested by the CBI in the IC 814 hijacking case, was initially sentenced to undergo life imprisonment in 2008 by a special court in Patiala for aiding the terrorists involved in the hijacking of the ill- fated IC 814.
Abdul Latif, Dilip Kumar Bhujal and Yusuf Nepali were arrested during course of investigation of Borivali Bank robbery in Mumbai in 1999
It was on December 30, 1999 that Abdul Latif, Dilip Kumar Bhujal and Yusuf Nepali were arrested during the course of investigation of Borivali Bank robbery case in respect of which a first information report was lodged in Mumbai on October 6 1999.
During the course of investigations, the Mumbai Police recovered Indian passports, driving licences, and the documents pertaining to hotel reservations etc and the role of Abdul Latif, Dilip Kumar Bhujal and Yusuf Nepali in hijacking of IC 814. The Indian passports recovered from the accused were of hijackers, the nationals of Pakistan, though were not used in the process of hijacking of the aircraft.
What was discovered during investigations?
During investigations, it was also discovered that the conspiracy to hijack Indian Airlines flight started somewhere in July-August, 1998 when Yusuf Azhar, brother-in-law of Maulana met Abdul Latif, to make efforts for the release of Maulana.
Then in September, 1998, Yusuf Azhar, sought the help of the Abdul latif to obtain visa for him for Bangladesh on an Indian passport in the name of Mohd. Salim Mohd. Karim. In February, 1999, Yusuf Azhar also asked the Latif to arrange a flat on rent.
Subsequently, Abdul Latif, is alleged to have arranged a flat in Madhav Building in Goregaon West, in the fictitious name of Javed A. Siddiqui, where Yusuf Azharalong with Shankar, one of the hijacker stayed.
IC 814 case in courts
On December 26, 1999, a criminal case of hijacking of Indian Airlines flight IC-814, Kathmandu to Delhi, with 179 passengers including 24 foreigners and 11 crew members that took off from Tribhuvan International Airport, Kathmandu at 16.10 hours on December 24, 1999 was registered as ‘zero’ FIR at Indira Gandhi International Airport, Delhi and later on December 29, 1999 at Amritsar.
On January 11, 2000, the investigation in the case was handed over to Central Bureau of investigation (CBI).
CBI named 10 persons as the accused in the case. Of the 10 accused, 5 were the hijackers – Ibrahim Arthar @ Chief, Sunny Ahmed Qazi @ Burger, Shahud Sayeed Akthar @ Doctor, Zahoor Ibrahim Mistry @ Bhola and Shakir @ Ram Gopal Verma @ Shankar.
Pakistani nationals, Abdul Rauf and Yusuf Azhar were named in the case but have never been apprehended
Besides the 5 hijackers, two other Pakistani nationals, Abdul Rauf and Yusuf Azhar were named in the case but have never been apprehended by Indian agencies.
But there were 3 other persons who were arrested by CBI in connection with the case. Two were Indian nationals, Abdul latif Adam Momin and Dilip Kumar Bhujel and one Nepali national Bhupal Man Damai @ Yusuf Nepali.
Netflix show ran into a controversy over the names of the terrorists
The Netflix show that opened on the OTT platform on August 29, ran into a controversy over the names of the terrorists – Bhola and Shankar. Social media trended with posts accusing Netflix of showing the terrorists as Hindus, which was factually incorrect.
The IC 814 aircraft was first taken to Amritsar, then Lahore, then Dubai before finally reaching Kandhar where negotiations between the hijackers and Indian government took place for four days for the release of the passengers on IC 814.
Curtains on the drama fell with the release of 3 terrorists- Masood Azhar, Mushtaq Zargar and Omar Sheikh – in exchange for the release of the IC 814 passengers.
Special trial court in Patiala in 2007 convicted all three accused
A special trial court in Patiala in 2007 convicted all the three accused Abdul Latif Adam Momin and Dilip Kumar Bhujel and Bhupal Man Damai @ Yusuf Nepali in the hijacking case and sentenced them to life term in prison.
In 2008 itself the accused challenged the verdict in the Punjab and Haryana High court which upheld the trial court verdict of life sentence for Abdul Latif, but acquitted Dilip Kumar Bhujel and Bhupal Man Damai @ Yusuf Nepali of charges of conspiracy and murder and sentenced them under the Arms Act.
Now the case is in the Supreme court of India and its expected that the court in days to come will take it up for hearing.
