A special court here, which had convicted two Indian Mujahideen operatives last week for the 2007 bomb blast at Lumbini Park and Gokul Chat, is likely to pronounce the quantum of punishment on Monday.
In the 11-year-old case which snuffed out the lives of 44 persons and left 68 others injured, the convicts, Anik Shafique Syeed and Mohammed Akbar Ismail Chowdhari – close associates of alleged IM chief Mohammed Riyaz Bhatkal – were pronounced guilty by the Second Additional Metropolitan Sessions Court Judge (in-charge) T. Srinivas Rao on September 4.
Two acquitted
Two other accused, Farooq Sharfuddin Tarkash and Mohammed Sadiq Israr Ahmed Shaik, were acquitted for want of enough evidence. All the four hail from Maharashtra and have been involved in other cases in Pune and Mumbai.
Three others, Riyaz Bhatkal, his brother Iqbal Bhatkal and Amir Reza Khan, are absconding and are believed to be in Pakistan.
The special court set up inside the Cherlapally Central Prisons is also likely to pronounce judgment on Tarik Anjum, accused of harbouring the perpetrators in New Delhi and other places. The trials was shifted to the court hall in the prison from a court located in Nampally complex in June owing to security reasons.
Anjum, a civil engineer from New Delhi and a native of Bihar, was arrested in 2011 for allegedly providing shelter to the bomb blast culprits.
Talking to The Hindu, K. Surender, special public prosecutor for the State police’s Counter Intelligence Cell that probed the case said they will seek capital punishment for the convicts. “We will also appeal to the higher court against the acquittal,” he said.
He said Anik, Riyaz and Akbar had planted three improvised explosive devices across the city, of which two went off. One unexploded bomb placed in Dilsukhnagar was recovered and defused by the police.
Meanwhile, Gandham Gurumurthy of defence counsels said once the punishment is announced, they would challenge the verdict in the High Court. “The judgment pronounced by the trial court will be set aside by the High Court and allow our appeal,” he said.
Mr. Gurumurthy maintained that his client, Anik, never visited Hyderabad until he was brought by police from Mumbai central prison in 2009.
Judge Mr Rao convicted Anik and Akbar under Sections 302 (murder), 120B (criminal conspiracy), 307 (attempt to murder) and other relevant provisions of the IPC and other sections of the Explosive Substances Act and Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) in three different cases.
On the rainy evening of August 25, 2007, 32 persons died in the blast at Gokul Chat, while 12 were killed during laser show at Lumbini Park, opposite Secretariat. Sixty-eight people were injured in the twin blasts.