Two of the five bombs planted by the group exploded on April 17 ahead of an IPL match, injuring five people. The other three bombs were found by the police after they failed to explode. (Representational Image)
THREE OF the seven persons linked to the Indian Mujahideen terror outfit, who are under trial for carrying out a series of blasts at the Chinnaswamy stadium in Bengaluru on April 17, 2010 ahead of an IPL cricket match, on Wednesday filed applications before a trial court pleading guilty to their offences — setting the stage for their conviction in the case.
Gauhar Aziz Khomeni, Kamal Hassan and Mohammed Kafeel Akhtar, all from Darbhanga in Bihar, were arrested in November 2011 from different parts of northern India by the Delhi Special Cell in the course of investigations into terror activities of the IM.
The three persons are accused of being part of a conspiracy in which they helped IM leader Yasin Bhatkal prepare five bombs at a hideout in Tumkur town, around 60 km from Bengaluru. The bombs were planted around the stadium on the intervening night of April 16 and April 17 by Yasin and an aide, Qateel Siddiqui, who was killed in a Pune jail brawl in 2012.
Two of the five bombs planted by the group exploded on April 17 ahead of an IPL match, injuring five people. The other three bombs were found by the police after they failed to explode.
On Wednesday, Khomeni, Hassan and Akhtar filed applications pleading guilty under Section 229 of the Criminal Procedure Code, 1973 after a sessions court conducting the trial rejected a plea bargain application filed by them on Tuesday. The trial court will decide on the applications on July 9. The three men, who have already spent six years in prison, had said in the bargain plea that they were not directly involved with the act of planting the bombs.