Yasin Bhatkal, 4 other IM men sentenced to death

Hyderabad: Five terror operatives of the Indian Mujahideen (IM) were sentenced to death in the 2013 Dilsukhnagar twin blasts case by a special court of National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Monday.

The five IM operatives include – Yasin Bhatkal aka Mohammed Ahmed Siddibappa Zarar, Asadullah Akhtar aka Haddi, Zia Ur Rahman aka Waqas, Mohammed Tahseen Akhtar aka Hassan and Ajaz Shaik aka Samar.

This is the first case in which terror operatives of the IM have been convicted and sentenced to death. Relatives of the twin blasts victims expressed their happiness after the court awarded death sentence to the terrorists.

On February 21, 2013, two consecutive bomb blasts were triggered by the IM operatives at Dilsukhnagar killing 18 persons, including an unborn child and injuring 131 persons.

Initially, two cases were registered – one by the Saroornagar police of Cyberabad and another by Malakpet police of Hyderabad city police.

However, both the cases were later transferred to NIA for investigation. The death sentence was awarded as the court found all the five IM operatives guilty under Section 302 of IPC and also under various provisions of the Indian Penal Code, Explosive Substances Act, Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act and the Public Property Damages Act.

The special court also awarded punishment ranging from two years to seven years under various counts to the IM operatives for causing injuries and attempt to murder by triggering the blasts.

Special Public Prosecutor for NIA Surendra said the High Court has to confirm the death sentence before it is actually executed.

The kingpin of the ghastly crime, Mohammed Riyaz Bhatkal, is still absconding due to which the trial against Riyaz has been split. A separate trial will be conducted whenever he is nabbed, the Prosecutor said.

It may be recalled the NIA first arrested Yasin Bhatkal, the co-founder of IM and Asadullah Akhtar from Indo-Nepal border in August 2013.

Later, Tahseen Akhtar of Bihar and Zia Ur Rahman aka Waqas of Pakistan were arrested by the Delhi police in Rajasthan on March 22, 2014.

Subsequently, another accused Aizaz Sheik of Pune was arrested, while the kingpin Riyaz Bhatkal is believed to be hiding in Pakistan.

The NIA had filed three charge-sheets in the case. During the course of trial, prosecution examined 157 witnesses and marked 486 exhibits and 173 material objects as evidence.

Initially, the trial was held at the district courts complex in L B Nagar. However, after intelligence reports suggested that the jailed IM operatives may escape from the custody, the trial was shifted to the high security central prison at Cherlapalli.

Meanwhile, defence counsel Mahadev said he would file an appeal before the High Court against the sentence. He said he has already received instructions to this effect from the five IM operatives and their relatives.