Bomb Blast case verdict on Aug1 ?
The verdict in the 1998 February 14 serial blasts case will be pronounced on August 1. The blasts, triggered in and around the city during the visit of BJP leader L K Advani on that date for election campaign, claimed 52 lives besides loss of property worth over Rs 100 crore. There would be a meeting to discuss the mode of judgement- like conviction, sentence or aquittal- on July 27, C Aboobacker, one of the defence counsels, said. A total of 166 persons, majority of them being reportedly the members of proscribed Al-Umma, including its leader S A Batcha Mohammed Ansari and Kerala-based People' Democratic Party leader, Abdul Nasser Mahdhani, have been arrested in connection with the blasts and they were lodged in prisons for the last eight years. The trial had begun in a special court on March 7 2002 and the agruments completed on April 10, 2007.
Investigation by a Special Investigation Team into the case revealed that the blasts and post-blast violence had been planned and executed by 'Al-Umma' as a 'brutal answer/retaliation' to the killing of 18 Muslims in communal riots and police firing and extensive damages to Muslim properties running into crores of rupees, following the killing of traffic police constable Selvaraj here on November 29, 1997, Aboobacker said. The operation, code-named "operation Allahu-Akbrar," had hit the city and suburbs by a series of 12 powerful blasts.
In the 1000-page final chargesheet, the accused have been chargesheeted under different sections of IPC--120B(criminal conspiracy), 302 (murder), 207 (attempt to Murder), sections 3, 4 (b) 5 and 6 of the Explosive Substances Act, section 25 (1-b (a) of the Arms act 1959 and Sec 4 of Tamil Nadu property (prevention of Damage and Loss) Act 1992. In all there were a total of 19 bomb explosion instances/cases from February 14 to 17, 1998 and bombs and explosives materials which were planted/concealed in 24 other places were later recovered or defused.
The high intensity bombs/IEDs exploded all over, including near the venue of public meeting by Advani and were primarily at Hindu congregations and Hindu establishments.
The attempts of the 'suicide squad', armed with 'instantaneous-type small box-bomb' tied to their waste and 'throw-type small box-bombs,' could not materialise as neither the members of the squad could penetrate the police cordon and reach near the dais of public meeting nor Advani was available at the targetted place at the scheduled time due to the delay of his flight.
Source : Hindu
