AHMEDABAD: Iliyas Memon, 26, spent seven years in jail on the charge of spreading terror. The only evidence against him was the phone call records which, the police had claimed, linked him with terrorists. But seven years later, it came to light that the police never had such records. In a verdict delivered last month on December 12, 2013, the additional sessions judge acquitted Memon and another accused of conspiracy charges.

Earlier, Memon was denied bail by Gujarat high court after the state police claimed that they had "material evidence" that established that he was in touch with one Aslam Kashmiri. During the trial, the police claims about Memon were exposed as false as they had not collected Kashmiri's call details, nor did they have his phone number.

Memon said he was picked up by the city crime branch from Mehamdabad in August 2006 but was shown as arrested on October 1, 2006 from a guesthouse near Kalupur railway station. He was booked on the charge of hatching a conspiracy to avenge the 2002 riots. Later, he was also arrested in the Kalupur blast case. The probe in the blast case was later transferred to the Gujarat ATS .

Memon was acquitted in the case on December 12, 2013 after which he was released. It was during the trial of the blast case that the claim of the ATS that it was in possession of "material evidence" against Memon was exposed as false.

The police had earlier claimed that one Nadeem Chaudhary had lent his phone to Memon to talk to Kashmiri. Deposing as a witness in the case, Chaudhary told additional sessions judge A H Shah that the ATS had detained him before recording his statement. "ATS detained me for 11 days and pressurized me to make a statement against Memon. The police threatened me that they would implicate me in this case if I did not do it," Chaudhary had told the court.

Another witness, Mohammed Talha, also told the court that Memon never talked to Kashmiri from his phone. The police had extracted statements according to their liking and had then let him go. Regarding this revelation, Memon says: "They could speak the truth because DG Vanzara was incarcerated in fake encounter cases." Memon, who was then studying in a seminary in Kantharia village near Bharuch, could not understand why he had been arrested.

"Even the police did not seem to know why they had detained me. They kept asking me about my classmates from Kashmir. Even madrassa management sent Kashmiri boys home because of constant pressure form the police," Memon said.

Incidentally, crime branch sleuths had killed four Kashmiri youths in an alleged encounter at Ganga Row House in Vatva five months before Memon was arrested. He has now opened a provisions store in Shah-e-Alam area and also pursues Islamic studies.