NIA Court Convicts Indian Mujahideen Founder Yasin Bhatkal For Hyderabad Blasts

In the first conviction of high-profile Indian Mujahideen terrorists since the jihadi outfit unleashed terror across India, the special National Investigation Agency (NIA) court found five members, including IM co-founder Mohammed Ahmed Siddibappa, alias Yasin Bhaktal, guilty of triggering twin blasts in Dilsukhnagar area of Hyderabad in 2013.

Reuters

The convictions come over three years after bombs fastened to bicycles ripped through Hyderabad's bustling Dilsukhnagar locality, killing 18 people and injuring 131 others. Judgment was delivered after one-hour proceedings by the special court inside the fortified Charlapally prison.

TOI

The first accused, key conspirator Riyaz Bhatkal, is still on the run and is believed to be holed up in Pakistan. Those convicted will be sentenced on December 19.

The prosecution will seek capital punishment for the five convicts. "The minimum sentence they could receive is a life term, and the maximum, capital punishment. On Monday next, we will seek the maximum punishment for murder and waging war against the country ¡ª the death sentence, NIA special public prosecutor K Surender Rao said.

The NIA court convicted the five terrorists under various sections of the IPC, the Arms Act and Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act. Besides Bhatkal, others convicted include Asadullah Akhtar, alias Haddi, of Uttar Pradesh; Zia-ur-Rahman, alias Waqas, of Pakistan; Tahseen Akhtar, alias Hassan, of Bihar; and Ajaz Shaikh, alias Arman Tunde, of Maharashtra. Pakistani national Waqas has also been convicted under sections of the Foreigners Act, 1946.

Reuters

Based on the confessions of the accused and other technical evidence, the NIA chargesheet stated that IM founding member Riyaz Bhatkal was the key strategist and brain behind the blasts. "Riyaz Bhatkal, his brother Iqbal, and Mohsin Chaudhary, wanted in multiple blasts, are suspected to be hiding in Pakistan," said an NIA official.

On February 21, 2013, two back-to-back blasts tore through Dilsukhnagar market in Hyderabad. The first blast took place at 7.05 pm near 107 Bus Stop in Malakpet police limits of Hyderabad. Seconds later, the second blast ripped through 'A1' Mirchi Centre, 200m from the bus stop under Saroornagar police station of Cyberabad. The Centre had later transferred both cases to the NIA.

PTI

The NIA, along with an Intelligence Bureau team, had arrested most-wanted IM terrorist Yasin Bhatkal and Asadullah Akhtar from the Indo-Nepal border in August 2013. Subsequently, Delhi police arrested Tahseen Akhtar and Zia-ur-Rahman, alias Waqas, a Pakistani national, in Rajasthan on March 22, 2014, and later transferred them to NIA custody.

Another accused, Aijaz Sheikh, brother-in-law of top IM operative Mohsin Chaudhary, was arrested by Delhi police from Saharanpur in September 2014. The role of Yasin Bhatkal in the planning, procurement of explosives and harbouring of Akhtar after the incident was also unearthed, the NIA said.