Locals and some of the survivors of the blast gathered at Gokul Chat to pay tributes to 42 people who were killed in the near simultaneous blasts on this day in 2007.

File Photo

Hyderabad:

Tributes were paid on Tuesday to those who lost their lives in the twin bomb blasts at Gokul Chat and Lumbini Park in Hyderabad on the 13th anniversary of the terror outrage.

Locals and some of the survivors of the blast gathered at Gokul Chat to pay tributes to 42 people who were killed in the near simultaneous blasts on this day in 2007.

Syed Raheem, who lost one of his eyes in the blast at the popular eatery, demanded the government do justice to the victims by immediately hanging the guilty.

He said people who lost their limbs or other vital organs in the blast were still waiting for justice.

"Even after 13 years, justice has not been done to us. Many have not received the compensation," he said.

He said the government should ensure that the guilty were hanged without any further delay. Raheem said the government continued to spend lakhs of rupees to house the guilty in prison.

In September, 2018, a special court had sentenced two convicts to death and a third to life sentence.

Anique Shafiq Syed and Akbar Ismail Choudhary, the alleged Indian Mujahideen (IM) operatives, were sentenced to death, while third convict Tariq Anjum was awarded life sentence.

Two other accused, Farooq Sharfuddin and Sadiq Ahmed Sheikh, were acquitted for lack of evidence.

Two powerful explosions had ripped through popular eatery Gokul Chat and an open-air theatre at Lumbini Park, near the Secretariat on August 25, 2007 killing 42 people and wounding 68.

While 32 people were killed at Gokul Chat, 10 others lost their lives at Lumbini Park, in near-simultaneous blasts around 7.45 p.m that day.

An unexploded bomb was also found under a foot-over-bridge at Dilsukhnagar.

The accused were arrested by the Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad in October 2008. Three other accused including IM chief Riyaz Bhatkal and his brother Iqbal Bhatkal are still at large.

The case was initially investigated by the Andhra Pradesh Police and following bifurcation of the state, it was handed over to the Counter Intelligence (CI) wing of Telangana Police.