NEW DELHI: Lone suspected Indian Mujahideen operative Shahzad Ahmad was on Thursday convicted in the 2008 Batla House encounter case by a Delhi court for murdering a police Inspector and assaulting other officers.

The court will pronounce its order on sentence on Monday.

“He (Shahzad) is held guilty of attempting to cause death of Head Constables Balwant Singh and Rajbir Singh and causing death of Inspector M.C. Sharma by firing on them,” Additional Sessions Judge Rajender Kumar Shastri said.

“He is also found guilty of assaulting police officers and obstructing them from doing their duty,” he said.

“Come for order on sentence on Monday (July 29),” the judge said after convicting him.

The court found Shahzad guilty of murder, attempt to murder, obstructing and assaulting public servants and grievously injuring the police officers to deter them from performing their duty.

The court, however, acquitted him of the offence under section 174A IPC (failure to appear in specified time and place as required by a proclamation by court).

The encounter had taken place at Flat No. L-18, Batla House in Jamia Nagar locality here on September 19, 2008, six days after serial bomb blasts rocked Delhi, killing 26 persons and injuring 133 others. The police had reached Batla House on a tip off that some suspected militants involved in the blasts were holed up in the building.

Of the five flat occupants, Atif Ameen and Mohd Sajid were killed during the encounter.

Highly-decorated Delhi Police Inspector Mohan Chand Sharma succumbed to the bullet injuries sustained during the gun battle, while head constable Balwant was injured.

Apart from these two, one Ariz Khan alias Junaid had been declared a proclaimed offender while Mohd Saif was not made an accused in this case as according to the prosecution, he had surrendered peacefully and did not play any part in the entire incident. — PTI

NEW DELHI: The BJP has slammed Congress leaders for questioning the veracity of Batla House encounter and said Thursday’s court verdict will go a long way in boosting the morale of security personnel fighting terror.

“It was a bizarre situation. While the government honoured late Inspector M.C. Sharma for bravery, senior Congress leaders and functionaries of the ruling dispensation had raised questions on the veracity of the encounter,” BJP Deputy Leader in the Rajya Sabha Ravi Shankar Prasad said here.

Prasad said with the court convicting lone suspected IM operative Shahzad Ahmed for the crime, “the soul of Inspector Sharma, killed in the encounter, will now rest in peace”.

Shahzad is said to be one of the occupants of the flat in Jamia Nagar where the encounter took place on September 19, 2008, between officers of the Special Cell of Delhi Police and the alleged IM terrorists said to be involved in the September 13, 2008 serial blasts at Karol Bagh, Connaught Place, Greater Kailash and India Gate. The blasts killed 26 and injured 133.

Other accused named in the charge sheet are Mohd Saif, Mohd Atif Ameen alias Bashir and Mohd Sajid. While Saif had surrendered, the other two had been shot dead in the encounter.

The shootout had sparked a controversy with Congress leader Digvijay Singh claiming that it was fake, but his party had swiftly distanced itself from his remarks.

The Samjwadi Party too had demanded a judicial probe but the then Home Minister P Chidambaram asserted that the encounter was genuine and there was no scope to reopen the matter. — PTI

MADRID: At least 77 people have been killed after a train derailed in the northern Spanish region of Galicia on Wednesday evening, said a spokeswoman for Galicia's Supreme Court.

Seventy-three people died at the accident site and four died in hospital, the spokeswoman said on Thursday morning, adding that the numbers were still provisional. Judges in Spain are responsible for recording the deaths.

Bodies covered in blankets lay next to the overturned carriages as smoke billowed from the wreckage. Firefighters clambered over the twisted metal trying to get survivors out of the windows, while ambulances and fire engines surrounded the scene.

The government said it was working on the hypothesis the derailment was an accident — although the scene will stir memories of 2004's Madrid train bombing, carried out by Islamist extremists, that killed 191 people. Sabotage or attack was unlikely to be involved, an official source said.

The train operated by state rail company Renfe with 247 people on board derailed on the eve of the city's main festival in honour of Saint James when thousands of Christian pilgrims from all over the world pack the streets.

"It was going so quickly. ... It seems that on a curve the train started to twist, and the wagons piled up one on top of the other," passenger Ricardo Montesco told Cadena Ser radio station.

"A lot of people were squashed on the bottom. We tried to squeeze out of the bottom of the wagons to get out and we realised the train was burning. ... I was in the second wagon and there was fire. ... I saw corpses," he added.

Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy, who was born in Santiago de Compostela, will visit the site on Thursday morning, his spokeswoman said.

"In the face of a tragedy such as just happened in Santiago de Compostela on the eve of its big day, I can only express my deepest sympathy as a Spaniard and a Galician," Rajoy said in a statement.

Santiago de Compostela's tourism board said all the festivities, including Wednesday's traditional High Mass at the centuries-old cathedral, were cancelled as the city went into mourning.

El Pais newspaper cited sources close to the investigation as saying the train was travelling at over twice the speed limit on a sharp curve. Both Renfe and state-owned Adif, which is in charge of the tracks, had opened an investigation into the cause of the derailment, Renfe said.

An official source said no statement would be made regarding the cause of the Spanish derailment until the black boxes of the train were examined, but said it was most likely an accident.

"We are moving away from the hypothesis of sabotage or attack," he said.

Clinics in the city were overwhelmed with people flocking to give blood, while hotels organised free rooms for relatives. Madrid sent forensic scientists and hospital staff to the region on special flights.

"The scene is shocking, it's Dante-esque," said the head of the surrounding Galicia region, Alberto Nunez Feijoo, in a radio interview.

The eight-carriage train was travelling from Madrid to Ferrol on the Galician coast when it derailed, Renfe said in a statement.

The disaster happened as Spain is struggling to emerge from a long-running recession marked by government-driven austerity to bring its finances into order. Firefighters called off a strike to help with the disaster, while hospital staff, many operating on reduced salaries because of spending cuts, worked overtime to tend the injured.

The city's main festival focuses on St James, one of Jesus' 12 disciples whose remains are said to rest in the city and who is patron saint of Galicia.

The apostle's shrine there is the destination of the famous El Camino de Santiago pilgrimage, followed by Christians since the Middle Ages.

The derailment happened less than two weeks after six people died when a train came off the tracks and hit the platform at a station in central France.

That accident may have been caused by a loose steel plate at a junction, French train operator SNCF said.

Wednesday's derailment was one of the worst rail accidents in Europe over the past 25 years.

In November 2000, 155 people were killed when a fire in a tunnel engulfed a funicular train packed with skiers in Austria.

In Montenegro, up to 46 people were killed and nearly 200 injured in 2006 when a packed train derailed and plunged into a ravine outside the capital, Podgorica.

In Spain itself, 41 people were killed the same year when an underground train derailed and overturned in a tunnel just before entering the Jesus metro station in Valencia. — Reuters

NEW DELHI" A Delhi court trying a teenager over the fatal gangrape of a student last December on a bus in the capital delayed announcing the first verdict in the case on Thursday, lawyers said. The juvenile court has finished hearing the case of the teenager, who was aged 17 at the time of the deadly assault which shocked the country and sparked weeks of sometimes violent protests.

The verdict had been deferred from July 11 to July 25 and was again delayed on Thursday by principal magistrate Geetanjli Goel to August 5 because of a legal challenge.

"The reason is because there is a case pending in the Supreme Court," defence lawyer Rajesh Tiwari told reporters outside.

Subramanian Swamy, the head of the Janata Party, has filed a petition arguing that suspects aged over 16 who are accused of serious offences should be tried in adult courts.

The crime, which saw the 23-year-old victim die of internal injuries inflicted during the savage attack on a moving bus, generated widespread anger about endemic sex crime in India.

Public outrage and protests pushed Parliament to pass a new law toughening sentences for rapists, while a round of public soul-searching sought to explain the rising tide of violence against women.

The trial of the adult suspects -- one of whom died in jail from a suspected suicide in March -- continues in a separate court but is expected to wrap up in the next few months.

The juvenile, a runaway who reportedly left home aged 11, can be sent to a correctional facility for a maximum three-year term, which will take into account the time he has already spent in custody.

The four remaining adults could face the death penalty if convicted.

The teenager, the youngest of six children according to his mother, was employed to clean the bus allegedly used for the attack and often slept rough or inside the vehicle, reports say.

He has denied any involvement in the crime.

The parents of the victim were present inside the small courtroom on Thursday.

They have called for the killers of their daughter to be hanged and have criticised what they see as the leniency of the juvenile justice system, which seeks to reform rather than punish criminals under 18.

A sentence of three years' detention for the teenager would likely cause further public anger in India where the suspects, some of whom have been beaten up in jail, are hate figures. — AFP

Jalpaiguri: Sporadic violence was today reported in the fifth and last phase of panchayat elections in West Bengal covering four districts of north Bengal with 30 per cent voter turnout reported till noon. 

At least seven CPI(M) supporters were injured in clashes with Trinamool Congress workers since last night in Jalpaiguri district. Three persons were injured at Talguri in the Maynaguri police station area during a clash today while another person was hit on the head when he was going to cast his vote, the police said.

All four persons were stated to be CPI(M) supporters. In another clash last night, three CPI(M) supporters were injured at Paharpur area of the district, the sources said. One of the three injured was admitted to hospital. Several people were injured at a clash today at Swastir Hat in Maynaguri block, but it was not confirmed by the police. Around 500 CPI(M) supporters alleged that they were not allowed to vote by Trinamool Congress activists at Pukurjan village in the Jajganj block of the district.

The polling remained by and large peaceful with a 30 per cent voter turnout till noon in the four districts of North Dinajpur, South Dinajpur, Coochbehar and Jalpaiguri, according to State Election Commission officials. Twenty persons have lost their lives in poll-related violence in the previous four phases. — PTI