Ahmedabad, July 1
The POTA court today awarded death sentence to three persons for terror attack on Akshardham temple in 2002.Twentynine devotees, two National Security Guards commandos and two state commandos were killed and 81 injured in the attack, which occurred on September 24, 2002.
The three who were sentenced to death are: Chand Khan, a prime accused from Jammu and Kashmir, Adam Suleman Ajmeri and Abdul Kayum Mohammed Hussain Mansuri.
Another person — Mohamed Salim Mohammed Anif Sheikh — was awarded life imprisonment, while two others — Mufti Abdul Miya Yasim Miya Kadhri and Altaf Husain Asghar Hussain Malik — were awarded 10 and five years of rigorous imprisonment, respectively.
Pronouncing the judgement,
designated POTA court Judge Sonia Gokani held the three persons directly responsible
for the killing of people in the temple.
The temple, run by the Akshar Purshottam Swaminarayan Sansthan, was stormed by two Pakistan-based terrorists belonging to Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT), dressed in Army uniforms.
The two opened indiscriminate fire on devotees on the temple premises. The militants also lobbed grenades.
The NSG commandos, after
a night-long gunfire, killed the militants — Murtuza Hafiz Yasin and Ashrafali Mohammed Farooq — claiming allegiance
to Tehreeq-e Qasas, a wing of the LeT.
The court delivered the verdict in the high security Sabarmati jail and the proceedings were held in camera.
Out of the 34 accused in the case, the police had arrested six, while 26 were at large and two were shot dead in the temple.
The police had submitted to
the court that four absconders had fled to Pakistan and Saudi Arabia and nothing could be
done to bring them back as they did not have photographs or passport details of the
absconders.
The accused have given confessional statements under Section 32 of POTA, which has been admitted as evidence.
The court had framed charges against the accused under
various Sections of POTA, the IPC, the Arms Act and the Explosive Substance Act for hatching criminal conspiracy
and waging war against the nation. — PTI
