Mohammed Afghani, a zari worker from suburban Govandi, was found guilty under section 3(1)(c) of the Official Secrets Act which deals with possession of documents relating to the army, navy and airport, public prosecutor Kalpana Chavan said.
Afghani was arrested on October 11, 2007, after the police found in his possession promotion policy of Indian Air Force, a 2001 directory of Indian Navy and a compact disc containing 42 photographs of different Indian warships. The photographs were clicked from different angles at places which were notified as 'prohibited' under the Official Secrets Act, prosecutor Chavan told Judge Malpani Pawar.
During interrogation, the police also recovered from the accused few debit and credit cards of Citibank, Bangkok Bank, Alafal Bank and Standard Chartered Bank. It was also discovered that the accused did not have accounts in Bangkok Bank and Alafal Bank and that the cards of these banks were not his own.
The accused had confessed to the police that he was instructed by an ISI officer by name of Sayyed to do a recee of Indian warships.
Although the accused had visited Pakistan, he had told Azad, his friend, that he was going to the neighbouring country to meet his relatives. However, he could not explain who his relatives were, the police told the court.
After the court pronounced the judgement, Afghani told PTI outside the court that he should have been acquitted as there was no evidence against him. His lawyer R B Mokashi said he would file an appeal against Afghani's conviction.
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