Explosive Substances Act, 1908

The case concerns the murder of Thakkan Yadav on 16 June 1991, for which eight accused were convicted by a trial court under IPC sections 302 and 149, the Arms Act and the Explosive Substances Act. The Patna High Court acquitted all eight, relying on alleged procedural lapses such as the victim’s transport to a distant…

The State of Tamil Nadu appealed the acquittal of nine accused, members of the LTTE, for alleged possession of explosives and conspiracy under the Terrorist and Disruptive Activities (Prevention) Act (TADA) and the Explosive Substances Act. The trial court had excluded two typewritten confessional statements on the gro…

Mohd. Hussain @ Julfikar Ali was convicted and sentenced to death for planting a bomb on a public bus in 1997, causing four deaths and twenty‑four injuries. The trial court denied him the assistance of counsel, violating his right to legal aid and due process. The Delhi High Court upheld the conviction, but the Supreme…

The Supreme Court examined the validity of a preventive detention order issued under the Andhra Pradesh Prevention of Dangerous Activities Act, 1986 against several individuals described as "goondas". The High Court had quashed the order on the grounds that the cited incidents were stale, did not affect public order, a…

Deepak Khichi, a trader of explosive and inflammable substances, was implicated in a fire that killed 14 people and injured many others. The Sessions Court initially discharged him of charges under the Explosive Substances Act (ESA) on the ground that no sanction under Section 7 of the Act had been produced. The Distri…

The appellant, Mohammed Ajmal Mohammad Amir Kasab, was one of ten Pakistani terrorists who launched a coordinated attack on Mumbai on November 26, 2008, killing 166 people and injuring 238. He was convicted by the trial court on multiple charges including waging war against the Government of India, murder, and terroris…

Idrishan Yakubhan Pathan faced two prosecutions under the Prevention of Terrorism Act (POTA), Case No. 8 and Case No. 12 of 2003. He appealed both decisions (Criminal Appeals Nos. 1287 and 1288 of 2004). The Gujarat High Court acquitted him in Case No. 8 and dismissed his appeal 1287. Regarding Case No. 12, the High Co…

The case involved 60 accused charged under TADA, the Arms Act and the Explosive Substances Act, of whom 11 were convicted by a Designated Court. The appellants contended that the FIR under TADA was registered without the mandatory prior approval of the District Superintendent of Police under s.20‑A(1) of TADA, renderin…

The appellants, Gosu Jairami Reddy and others, were convicted for murder, rioting and offences under the Explosive Substances Act after allegedly hurling bombs and attacking the deceased with hunting sickles. They challenged the convictions before the Supreme Court under Article 136, arguing errors in the trial court’s…

Karamjit Singh, a Delhi police constable, was residing in a police quarter allotted to his father‑in‑law when police, acting on secret information, raided the premises and recovered explosives and related materials from a locked box that Singh opened. He was convicted under Sections 3 and 5 of the Terrorist and Disrupt…

The appellant, D.P. Gupta, was charged under Section 5 of the Explosive Substances Act and the TADA Act for possessing large quantities of gelatine, detonators and other explosive materials found in his godowns and an underground room. The key issue was whether he had "conscious possession"—i.e., both physical control …

The appellant was charged under the UAPA and related statutes, and the trial court declared five prosecution witnesses as protected under Section 44 of the UAPA and Section 173(6) of the CrPC, sealing their statements. The appellant later sought, under Section 207 of the CrPC, redacted copies of those statements so tha…

Param Hans Yadav and Sadanand Tripathi were convicted for the murder of Collector Mahesh Narain Prasad, Yadav having thrown a bomb and later confessing that he acted on Tripathi's orders. Yadav's confession, both judicial and extra‑judicial, was obtained after he was assaulted and was therefore not voluntary. The Supre…

Six armed men formed an unlawful assembly with the common object of killing Balan. They inflicted multiple injuries on his arms and legs, and he later died. The trial court convicted accused No.1 (the appellant) and others under Section 302 read with Section 34 IPC, along with other offences. The High Court acquitted a…

On the day of a West Bengal Assembly election, Assistant Commissioner Sankaran Moitra led a police lathi charge at a polling booth, during which the husband of complainant Sadhna Das was beaten to death. A private complaint was filed, the Chief Judicial Magistrate took cognizance and issued a warrant. The accused sough…

A long‑standing property dispute between two families escalated when Survey Department officials arrived to survey the land. After an initial verbal altercation, the accused returned armed with knives, clubs, a baku and explosives, stabbing and killing two members of the complainant’s family and injuring several others…

The appellants, armed with bombs and guns, attacked the informant's nephews, hurling bombs that caused two deaths and injuries to others. The trial court convicted several accused under Sections 302 and 149 of the IPC, Sections 3 and 4 of the Explosive Substances Act and Section 27 of the Arms Act, sentencing two to de…

Four accused were convicted under the Terrorist and Disruptive Activities (Prevention) Act, the Indian Penal Code and the Explosive Substances Act on the basis of confessional statements recorded by a Superintendent of Police under Section 15 of TADA. The police officer failed to furnish the certificate of satisfaction…

Lt. Col. Prasad Shrikant Purohit, a serving Army officer, was accused of conspiring with others to plant a bomb in Malegaon in 2008, resulting in six deaths. The case was investigated first by the Anti‑Terrorist Squad (ATS) and later by the National Investigation Agency (NIA), leading to divergent charge‑sheets, with t…

The case concerned the murder of Pallamareddi Ramanareddi by bombs allegedly hurled by Tallurri Venkaiah Naidu (appellant) and co‑accused. The trial court acquitted several accused but convicted the appellant under sections 120‑B/302 IPC and related provisions. The High Court set aside the trial court's acquittals and …

The Supreme Court reviewed a series of criminal appeals arising from the 1993 Bombay serial blasts, all tried under the Terrorist and Disruptive Activities (Prevention) Act, 1987 (TADA). The appeals concerned convictions for offences such as unauthorised possession of arms and explosives (s.3(3), s.5, s.6 TADA), conspi…

On March 12, 1993, a series of 12 bomb explosions occurred in Bombay, killing 257 people and injuring 713, with property damage worth Rs. 27 crores. The conspiracy was hatched by Tiger Memon and Dawood Ibrahim, with Yakub Abdul Razak Memon (A-1) playing a key role. The Designated Court convicted 100 accused, sentencing…

The Supreme Court of India disposed of multiple appeals arising from the 1993 Bombay serial bomb blasts, which killed 257 people and injured 713. The Designated Court under TADA had convicted numerous accused, sentencing most to life imprisonment. On appeal, the Supreme Court examined the evidence, including confession…

The Supreme Court of India delivered a consolidated judgment on multiple appeals arising from the 1993 Bombay serial blasts case under the Terrorist and Disruptive Activities (Prevention) Act, 1987 (TADA). The appeals challenged convictions and acquittals of various accused persons involved in the conspiracy, landing, …

The Supreme Court examined 19 appeals filed by the State of Maharashtra against acquittals in the 1993 Bombay serial bomb blast case, focusing on conspiracy charges under the Terrorist and Disruptive Activities (Prevention) Act (TADA) and the Indian Penal Code. It reiterated the limited circumstances in which an appell…

The Supreme Court examined a series of appeals arising from the Designated Court's judgments in the 1993 Bombay bomb blast case under the Terrorist and Disruptive Activities (Prevention) Act, 1987 (TADA). The Court held that confessional statements recorded under Section 15 of TADA are substantive evidence admissible a…

An FIR was lodged on 14 July 2016 alleging that the accused had links with ISIS and were planning bombings under the UAPA. The Anti‑Terrorism Squad (ATS) of Nanded began investigation, arrested four persons and, on 8 September 2016, the Central Government directed the National Investigation Agency (NIA) Mumbai to take …

The case concerned the conviction of Sudevanand and co‑accused for an attempted murder of the Chief Justice of India, based largely on the testimony of an approver, Vikram, who later retracted his earlier statements while in jail. The appellants filed three criminal miscellaneous applications after a delay of more than…

Jagdish was convicted of murdering his wife and five minor children after his brother and neighbours saw him with a blood‑stained knife and the bodies. The trial court relied on circumstantial evidence, medical post‑mortems and the appellant’s self‑inflicted injuries, and sentenced him to death. On appeal, the Supreme …

A.G. Perarivalan, convicted for the assassination of former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi, had his death sentence commuted to life imprisonment and spent over three decades in jail. The Tamil Nadu State Cabinet recommended remission of his sentence in September 2018, but the Governor delayed action for two and a half yea…

The State of Rajasthan appealed against a High Court order that had discontinued criminal proceedings in Dholpur under Section 186 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC), on the ground that the same offence was already being tried in courts at Sagar and Chanderi, Madhya Pradesh. The three FIRs (No. 161/2010, 310/2010…

Gurdeep Singh was convicted under Sections 302, 324 IPC, the Explosive Substances Act and the Indian Explosive Act for a bomb blast that killed three persons. The sole basis of the prosecution was his confessional statement recorded under Section 15 of the Terrorist and Disruptive Activities (Prevention) Act (TADA) bef…

The appellant, a taxi driver, was convicted along with two others for committing dacoity under Sections 395 and 397 of the IPC, as well as offences under the Arms Act and the Explosive Substances Act, after a gold jewellery workshop was looted and the perpetrators fled in two taxis. The trial court sentenced each accus…

The National Investigation Agency (NIA) investigated a terrorist plot in Jammu & Kashmir and filed a chargesheet on 25 September 2019 under the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) 1989. The Special Judge, NIA, refused to take cognizance of the conspiracy charge under Section 120‑B of the Ranbir Penal Code because the req…

The Supreme Court examined the convictions of six accused in the 2002 Akshardham temple terrorist attack, which were based largely on confessional statements recorded under the Prevention of Terrorism Act (POTA), testimony of accomplices, and two Urdu letters allegedly recovered from the terrorists' pockets. The Court …

Vikash Tiwary, a life convict serving a sentence for multiple offences, was transferred by the Inspector General of Prisons from Hazaribagh Central Jail to Central Jail, Dumka on 17 May 2023 after the jail superintendent warned of a potential gang war and insufficient staff to control notorious inmates. The respondent …

The case concerned the death of Kishan Sikand, who was killed by a parcel bomb on 2 October 1982. The prosecution alleged that Lt. Col. S.J. Chaudhary, the ex‑husband of Rani Chaudhary, manufactured the bomb out of motive to prevent her living with Sikand. The trial court convicted Chaudhary under Section 302 IPC and S…

The appellant, Daya Singh Lahoria (also known as Rajeev Sudan and Vinay Kumar), was convicted of offences under IPC sections 420, 468, 471 and 364A, as well as the Explosive Substances Act, and sentenced to seven years of imprisonment (concurrent) and life imprisonment for a kidnapping‑related offence. He had already s…

The husband (Daya Singh) and wife (Suman Sood) were extradited from the United States and tried in Rajasthan for kidnapping a politician's son, conspiracy, and related offences. The trial court convicted both of several IPC offences, acquitting Suman Sood of kidnapping for ransom (Sec. 364A). The High Court reversed th…

The case concerned two separate prosecutions arising from the July 2006 Mumbai suburban train bomb blasts. In Special Case No. 21 of 2006, the accused‑respondents sought to summon four Deputy Commissioners of Police (who had recorded confessional statements of three other accused in a later Special Case No. 4 of 2009) …

The appellant was accused of throwing bombs that injured a shopkeeper and caused the deaths of two persons. His name did not appear in the FIR or in the initial police statements recorded under Section 161 of the CrPC, but was later added during trial. The prosecution’s case relied on three eye‑witnesses whose statemen…

The State prosecuted S.J. Chaudhary for murder and offences under the Explosive Substances Act, seeking to introduce the testimony of a typewriter expert to identify the machine that produced a disputed document. The trial court and the Delhi High Court excluded the expert's opinion, relying on the earlier Supreme Cour…

A hand grenade attack at a public gathering in Amritsar resulted in three deaths and 22 serious injuries. Bikramjit Singh was arrested, remanded to custody, and after 90 days (which expired on 21‑02‑2019) he applied for default bail; the Sub‑Divisional Judicial Magistrate dismissed the application, claiming he had alre…

The case arose from the murder of Suresh Narsinh Dubey in 1989, for which Hitendra Vishnu Thakur and others were arrested under the Terrorist and Disruptive Activities (Prevention) Act, 1987 (TADA). After a series of investigations, the accused sought bail on the ground that the prosecution had failed to file a charge‑…

The Supreme Court examined the 1993 Bombay bomb blasts case, where 145 persons were charged under the IPC and the Terrorist and Disruptive Activities (Prevention) Act, 1987 (TADA). The Court clarified the law on criminal conspiracy, holding that knowledge of an illegal use can be inferred when the goods (e.g., RDX) hav…

The Supreme Court examined appeals by four accused (A‑1, A‑4 to A‑6) who were convicted for conspiring to wage war against the Government of India under IPC s.121A, along with offences under the Explosive Substances Act, 1908 and the Arms Act, 1959. The prosecution relied on recovered explosives, arms, inflammatory lit…

The Supreme Court examined the appeal of sixteen accused convicted under the Terrorist and Disruptive Activities (Prevention) Act (TADA) for a series of bomb blasts on Indian trains in December 1993. The Court held that Section 20A(1) of TADA makes prior approval of the District Superintendent of Police an absolute pre…

The case concerns the assassination of former Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi by a human bomb at Sriperumbudur on May 21, 1991, orchestrated by the LTTE. The Supreme Court heard appeals from 26 accused convicted by a Designated Court under TADA and IPC, along with a death reference. The Court held that the prosecuti…

The State of Uttar Pradesh appealed the High Court’s acquittal of Wasif Haider and others for murder, attempted murder and related offences arising from a riot at a temple. The Supreme Court examined whether the appellate court could disturb an acquittal and whether the prosecution had established the identity of the a…

The appellant Rajan Rai was convicted of murder under Section 302 read with Section 34 of the IPC and under Sections 3 and 5 of the Explosive Substances Act for allegedly throwing a bomb that killed his brother. Four co‑accused were earlier acquitted by the High Court, while a fifth co‑accused had died before trial. Th…

The Supreme Court examined a raid that uncovered AK‑56 rifles, ammunition and about 600 g of explosive material at the residence of three accused, leading to prosecution under the Prevention of Terrorism Act, 2002 (POTA). The State Government’s order withdrawing the POTA cases and the Review Committee’s finding of no p…

Abu Salem, an absconding accused in the 1993 Bombay bomb blasts, was arrested in Portugal and extradited to India under the International Convention for the Suppression of Terrorist Bombings and the Indian Extradition Act, 1962 (applied to Portugal by a 2002 notification). Portugal granted extradition for certain offen…

The appellants were intercepted in Surat in 1988 with 180 detonators and were charged under Section 9-B(i)(b) of the Explosives Act, 1884 and Section 5 of TADA, 1985. The trial court convicted them only under the Explosives Act, sentencing each to one year imprisonment and a fine of Rs.1,000; the High Court affirmed th…

The appellant, a Pakistani national and member of Lashkar‑e‑Toiba, was convicted for planning and executing a terrorist attack on the Red Fort on 22 December 2000, which killed three Indian Army soldiers. The prosecution proved the conspiracy and the murders through extensive circumstantial evidence, forensic links bet…

On 26 January 1996 a bomb exploded at the SMS Stadium in Jaipur, leading to the arrest of six accused, including Chandra Prakash, Abdul Mateen and others. The prosecution relied on the testimony of an approver (PW‑1) who implicated the accused, on material recovered from the accused’s premises (ammonium nitrate, dynami…

On 21 April 1983, members of a rival trade union threw bombs at an industrial estate in Kerala, killing Nanukuttan and injuring several others. The trial court acquitted all twenty‑two accused, but the State appealed against the acquittal of three accused (A‑1 to A‑3). The Kerala High Court, on re‑appraisal of the evid…

On 7 January 1984 a group of accused, including Jodhan, entered the house of the deceased and attacked the victims with lathis, farsa and handmade bombs, causing the death of the deceased. The trial court acquitted all accused, holding that the incident was a "free fight" and finding the prosecution evidence unreliable…

The appellant Venkatesha (A‑2) and co‑accused G. Venkatesh Murthy (A‑1) were convicted under IPC sections 302, 307, 427 read with s.34 and under the Explosive Substances Act, s.3 read with s.34 for planting a bomb in a hair‑salon to kill Muniraju (PW‑14). The bomb, placed by approver Hanif (A‑3) on their instructions, …

The Supreme Court examined whether the Punjab and Haryana High Court could entertain applications under Section 482 of the CrPC and direct a CBI investigation after a criminal appeal had been finally disposed of. It held that once a judgment is signed, the court becomes functus officio and, under Section 362 CrPC, cann…

The case concerned an appeal by Rajesh Prasad, the informant, against a High Court order that set aside the conviction and death sentences of three accused who had been found guilty under IPC s.302/34, 120B and the Explosive Substances Act s.3/4 for throwing bombs that killed his father and another victim. The High Cou…

The respondent was arrested on 17 February 1977 with detonators in his possession and was charged under Sections 4 and 5 of the Explosive Substances Act, 1908. He challenged the prosecution on the ground that the consent required under Section 7 of the Act had not been properly obtained. The High Court of Madhya Prades…

The accused were charged with murder and related offences under the IPC and the Explosive Substances Act. The trial court acquitted them, but the High Court, on appeal by the State, convicted several of the accused under sections 302, 302 r/w 149 and 307, while acquitting them of other charges. The State appealed to th…

The appellant, Boddella Babul Reddy, was convicted by the Andhra Pradesh High Court for murder (Sec. 302 IPC) arising from a factional clash in which he was alleged to have hurled a bomb that killed a coolie. The trial court had acquitted all accused, including the appellant, on the ground that the prosecution evidence…

Abu Salem, an accused in the 1993 Bombay bomb blasts, was extradited from Portugal to India in 2005 on the assurance that he would not face the death penalty or imprisonment beyond 25 years. After his return, the Designated Court framed additional charges beyond those covered by the extradition, which Abu Salem argued …

The petitioners, among 181 accused in the Coimbatore serial bomb blast case, filed a transfer petition under Sections 406 and 407 of the Criminal Procedure Code seeking to move the trial from Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu to Kerala, alleging that communal tension in the state would prevent a fair and impartial trial and that …

Harpal Singh was apprehended with a kilogram of explosive powder. The police initially filed a charge-sheet under the Explosives Act, 1884, and later filed a supplementary charge-sheet adding offences under the Terrorist and Disruptive Activities (Prevention) Act, 1987 (TADA) and the Explosive Substances Act, 1908. The…

The case involved thirteen accused charged under IPC sections 302, 148, 149 and the Explosive Substances Act for the murder of Y. Ramachandra Reddy. The trial court convicted six of them (A‑1 to A‑6) while acquitting the rest; the High Court later reversed this, acquitting all six. On appeal, the Supreme Court examined…

Four persons were tried under the Terrorist and Disruptive Activities (Prevention) Act, 1987 (TADA) and the Explosive Substances Act, 1908. Two were acquitted and two were convicted; the State of Rajasthan appealed the acquittals while the convicted appealed their convictions. The central issue was whether the prior ap…

The case concerns a review of the death sentence awarded to Mohd. Arif alias Ashfaq for the 2000 Lal Quila firing that killed three army jawans. The petitioner challenged the conviction on four grounds: the admissibility of call data records (CDRs) without a Section 65B certificate, the validity of his disclosure state…

The case arose from a bomb blast in Bow Bazar, Calcutta, which demolished a building, killed 69 people and injured many others. The prosecution alleged that the accused conspired to manufacture and explode bombs to terrorise the public and disrupt communal harmony, charging them under Sections 1208, 302, 307, 326, 436 …

The police seized large quantities of gelatine sticks, electronic detonators and ammonium nitrate from containers at Port Blair, alleging that the consignments were clandestinely shipped and constituted "specific category explosive substances" under the Explosive Substances Act, 1908. The accused, who are quarry operat…

The Supreme Court examined two matters concerning the withdrawal of criminal prosecutions under Section 321 of the Criminal Procedure Code, 1973. In Criminal Appeal No. 287 of 1979, the Court held that a committing magistrate can grant consent to withdraw even when the offence is exclusively triable by a Court of Sessi…

The case concerns an appeal by Madan Singh and others against their conviction for murder, attempted murder, assault, robbery and offences under the Arms Act and the Terrorist and Disruptive Activities (Prevention) Act (TADA). The police raided a house where about 20‑25 persons were assembled; a gunfight ensued, result…

The appellant, Ashim Kumar Haranath Bhattacharya, was arrested in July 2012 under the National Investigation Agency (NIA) Act for offences including conspiracy, waging war, and violations of the Arms and Explosive Substances Acts. Although the charge sheet was filed in 2012, charges were only framed in 2019 and the tri…

The appellants were arrested in 2019 for offences under the IPC, UAPA and the Explosive Substances Act and a chargesheet was filed within the 180‑day period prescribed under Section 167(2) of the CrPC. They applied for statutory/default bail on the ground that the chargesheet was filed without a sanction order, arguing…

The appellant was arrested in 2007 in connection with a bomb‑defusing case and, while in police custody, gave a confessional statement that was recorded by a Superintendent of Police under Section 15 of the Terrorist and Disruptive Activities (Prevention) Act, 1987. The appellant contended that the confession was not v…

The National Investigation Agency (NIA) appealed against the Kerala High Court’s order granting bail to K. A. NajeeB, who was charged under multiple IPC offences, the Explosive Substances Act and several provisions of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA). The High Court had released the undertrial on bail, c…