SC grants leave to 1999 Kandhar hijack convict Abdul Latif

New Delhi: The Supreme Court today granted leave and admitted the appeal filed by one of the convicts and co-conspirators, Abdul Latif Adam Momin, in the 1999 IC-814 Kandahar hijacking case in which three dreaded terrorists had been freed in exchange for the passengers of the Airbus 320.

A division bench, headed by Justice Pinaki Chandra Ghose and also comprising Justice Rohinton Fali Nariman, held,'' We would hear the matter at a great length.'' The Punjab and Haryana High Court had sentenced Momin to life imprisonment.

Subsequently, he had challenged it in the apex court. Momin is one of the co-conspirators in the hijacking case. He was alleged to have the knowledge of the plane hijacking, according to the prosecution. The prosecution stated that there were a total of 10 accused, out of which seven had been declared as Proclaimed Offenders, (POs) by the court. Three had been sentenced to life imprisonment by a lower court in Punjab.

Thereafter, only Momin was handed down the life imprisonment by the Punjab and Haryana High Court. The Central Bureau of Investigation, the probe agency in the case, had challenged in the apex court the acquittal of two accused. (UNI)