A court in Hyderabad has sentenced two convicts of twin blast case to death while a third convict was sentenced to life imprisonment on Monday.
Second Additional Metropolitan Sessions Judge T Srinivas Rao awarded capital punishment to accused one Anique Shafeeq Sayeed and accused two Akbar Ismail Coudhary and ordered them to be hanged till death. Earlier on September 4 the court had found them guilty of conspiracy and planting bombs, murder and many other offences. The court also imposed a fine of Rs 10000 each on the two convicts.
Earlier on Tuesday morning the court also convicted third accused Tarique Anjum on charges of provision shelter to the two other accused in Delhi after the blasts in2007. The court sentenced him to life imprisonment.
The verdict came more than 11 years after the terror attack in the heart of Hyderabad.
Judge pronounced the punishment on Monday evening after hearing the arguments of prosecution and the defence. The prosecution had demanded capital punishment in view of the gravity of the crime. The blasts on August 25, 2007 in Lumbini Park, Open Air Theatre and Gokul Chat Bhandar eatery in crowded Kothi area had killed 44 people and injured 68 others while third bomb planted at Dilsukhnagar failed to explode.
Defence lawyers said they will challenge the verdict in High Court. They argued before the court that the accused were innocent and the evidence against them was only circumstantial but the court on the basis of eye witnesses account found them guilty.
The court had found A1 Anique Shafeeq Syed and Akbar Ismail Choudhary, both from Pune, guilty on Tuesday last while acquitted two others Farooq Sharfuddin Tarkash and Sadiq Israel Shaikh of Maharashtra.
The first two accused were convicted on many accounts including planting bombs in two crowded public places. Three other accused Riyaz Bhatkal, Iqbal Bhatkal and Amir Raza Khan were absconding.
Prosecution has charged the accused with hatching conspiracy and executing the blasts to avenge the bomb blast in historic Mecca Masjid on May 17,2007 during Friday congregation killing 8 and injuring dozens of others. Prosecution claimed that the accused knew that the blast in Mecca Masjid was carried out by Hindu extremist groups and they carried out counter attacks to take revenge.
NIA court in Hyderabad had acquitted the five accused members of Hindu terror outfit Abhinav Bharat and former members of RSS including Swami Aseemanand on April 16 last.