2005 Delhi serial blasts: One convicted, two let off

Source:- indiatimes.com

NEW DELHI: NEW DELHI: Two of the three accused in the 2005 Delhi serial blasts in national capital’s Sarojini Nagar area have been acquitted of charges by Patiala house Court on Thursday.

The court while pronouncing its verdict in the case dropped all the charges against Mohammad Rafiq Shah and Mohammad Hussain Fazili.

However, the third accused Tariq Ahmed Dar has been found guilty and has been awarded 10-years imprisonment by the court.

Dar has already served 12 years in jail.

Of the many other charges against him, Dar has been convicted for “terror funding”.

The serial blasts of October 29, 2005 at in Sarojini Nagar, Kalkaji, and Paharganj had killed 67 people. More than 200 people were injured.

Dar was convicted for the offence punishable under Section 38 (being the member of a terror organisation) and Section 39 (giving support to such outfit) of Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA).

Farooq Ahmed Batloo and Ghulam Ahmed Khan had earlier pleaded guilty and were let off by the court for the period already undergone by them. Terror funding was the allegation against both these accused.

Three separate cases were registered by Delhi Police’s Special Cell following the blasts. The court had clubbed all the three cases for the purpose of recording of evidence.

As per the prosecution, Dar, along with Abu Ozefa, Abu Al Kama, Rashid, Sazid Ali and Zahid, had allegedly entered into a criminal conspiracy to wage a war against the country and planned serial blasts. All these five co-accused are still at large and are said to be in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir.

He was arrested in Dhaka by a special police branch and deported in 2007 in connection with the 2005 Delhi bomb blasts and for his alleged links with the Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT). He was released three months later by the Tis Hazari Court after the Delhi Police failed to file a chargesheet against him due to lack of evidence.

Later, on the basis of his call details that allegedly proved he was in touch with LeT operatives, the Delhi Police chargesheeted him. Besides facing the charge in Sarojini Nagar Market blast in which 50 people were killed and over 200 injured, Dar is also a prime accused in Paharganj and Kalkaji blast which took place the same day.

The court had framed charges against Dar, and the other two for waging war against the state, conspiring, collecting arms, murder and attempt to murder. According to the reports, the court had earlier clubbed the three blasts cases for the recording of evidence but it framed the charges separately against the accused.

Three days before Diwali, on October 29, 2005, a young, bearded man in a blue baseball cap, boarded DTC’s Outer Mudrika service and placed his satchel under the seat. Around 5:25 PM in Delhi’s Paharganj area, the first bag exploded and killed 18.The second blast took place near a bus in Govindpuri area at 6:00 PM. After 5 minutes the third blast took place in Delhi’s busy market Sarojini Nagar. The Pakistan-based Islamist terrorist organisation, the Islamic Revolutionary Front or Islamic Inquilab Mahaz, claimed responsibility for the Delhi terrorist attacks