Yasin Bhatkal, 4 other IM men get death penalty for Hyderabad blasts

Hyderabad: The special National Investigation Agency court on Monday awarded the death penalty to five members of Indian Mujahideen (IM) for their role in planning and executing the Hyderabad Dilsukhnagar blasts in 2013 that killed 18 people and injured more than 100 others.

The court observed that this was one of the rarest of rare cases and to ensure justice for the victims the five terrorists should be hanged to death.

This is the first case against IM in which a court has awarded the death penalty.

“The court observed that the case fell in the rarest of rare category because of the way it was planned and executed, causing the death of innocent people and injuries to 119 people, many of whom are still struggling to lead a normal life,” said special public prosecutor K. Surender.

Yasin Bhatkal alias Mohammed Ahmed Siddibappa from Karnataka, Asadullah Akthar from Uttar Pradesh, Zia-ur-Rahman alias Waqas from Pakistan, Tahseen Akhthar from Bihar and Aizaz Shaik from Maharashtra were found guilty and convicted on December 13 by the same court. The key conspirator in the case, Riyaz Bhatkal, is still at large and believed to be in Pakistan.

The public prosecutor said that the NIA had produced evidence showing that the conspiracy was hatched in Mangalore. It also produced explosives which were seized from a house in Mangalore and evidence on the purchase of pressure cookers and bicycles in Hyderabad that were used to set off the blast. There was also evidence of a test run they had conducted at a hillock near Abdullapurmet on the city’s outskirts. “It was the collective work of NIA officers and investigators and the prosecution team that led to this sentencing,” Mr Surender said.

In his final argument before the sentence was passed, the public prosecutor pleaded that the court consider the heinous nature of the crime and grant the death penalty. He argued that the Indian Constitution had given the right to life to citizens of the country, but the five convicts murdered 18 innocent people. Citing the judgments of different higher courts in earlier big terror cases, the prosecutor argued terrorists should be given the death sentence.

The judge found all the charges by the NIA against the five terrorists under the Indian Penal Code, Arms Act, Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act for murder, and charges of waging war against the country, conspiracy, attempt to murder and other offences were true.