Chandigarh, Sep 29: The CBI Special Court here on Saturday acquitted Iqbal Khanday, Principal Secretary, present MLA and former minister Ghulam Ahmed Mir and Raman Mattoo former J&K minister along with alleged kingpin of the sex scam Sabeena and her husband Abdul Hamid in the infamous Jammu and Kashmir sex scam.
CBI special judge, Vimal Kumar, acquitted all the accused as the CBI failed to prove the allegations against them. Having faced acquisitions of exploiting women in lieu of job for last about six years, the order comes as a major relief to all the accused who were facing trial under section 5 of Prevention of Immoral traffic act (PITA).
“There was no FIR or complaint as such against the accused. As per the CBI three women had alleged being sexually exploited at the hands of the accused who denied having made any such allegations against the accused. CBI had accused them of procuring sex workers but all the alleged victims of sexual exploitation in their statement before the court denied that they are sex workers,” said Mir’s counsel advocate Ranjan Lakhanpal.

CASE HISTORY
Jammu & Kashmir sex scandal hit the headlines in 2005 when the police filed a case and started investigations after it became public that one Sabeena, the alleged kingpin, was supplying girls to various politicians and bureaucrats in the state. Later the case was handed over to CBI.  The court on Saturday announced verdict against three accused who were booked under PITA while the main case is still pending.
The high profile sex scam, which shook the state and forced the lawyers resolving not to appear for the defence of the accused was transferred here in 2006 by the Apex court. The 14 accused in the sex scam include, former J&K Minister Ghulam Ahmed Mir, former Minister Raman Mattoo, BSF DIG K C Padhi, former J&K Additional Advocate General Anil Sethi, DSP Muhammad Ashraf Mir, Principal Secretary Iqbal Khanday, hotel owner Riyaz Ahmed Kawa, Sabeena, the alleged kingpin of the sex racket, her husband Abdul Hamid Shabir Langoo, middlemen Shabir Ahmed Laway alias Shabir Kala, Mehrajuddin Malik, Masood Ahmed, Muhammad Yusuf Mir and Abdul Hamid Bullah.
The CBI has about 100 witnesses and it was for the first time in this case the chargesheet that was produced in the coded form.
The accused challenging the coded challans had sought the permission of the court for supply of the decoded chargesheets which was opposed by CBI citing “security threat” to the witnesses. Though after framing of charges and recording of the statements of the prime witness and victim, the chargesheet was decoded as per the orders of the Punjab and Haryana High court.

Lastupdate on : Sat, 29 Sep 2012 21:30:00 Makkah time
Lastupdate on : Sat, 29 Sep 2012 18:30:00 GMT
Lastupdate on : Sun, 30 Sep 2012 00:00:00 IST