2007 Hyderabad twin bomb blasts: Court pushes date of judgment to 4 September

Hyderabad: A local court Monday posted for 4 September the judgement in the 2007 Hyderabad twin bomb blasts case. The near-simultaneous explosions at Gokul Chat and Lumbini Park on 25 August, 2007, claimed 42 lives and left over 50 injured. Sessions Judge T Srinivas Rao fixed the date for the verdict after five accused in the case were produced before the court at Nampalli through video conferencing from Cherlapalli jail where they are lodged. [caption id=“attachment_5051351” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Hyderabad bomb blasts site. AP[/caption] A defence lawyer said that “the accused included Aneeq Shafiq Syed, Akbar Ismail Choudhary, Farooq and Mohammed Sadiq”, all alleged Indian Mujahideen operatives. On 7 August, after completion of arguments and counter-arguments, the judge had posted the case for Monday. The Counter Intelligence (CI) wing of Telangana Police had probed the case and filed three charge sheets against the accused, some of whom are absconding. The charge sheet in the case against the alleged Indian Mujahideen operatives was filed in August 2013. The accused were charged under section 302 (murder) and other relevant provisions of the IPC and sections of Explosive Substances Act in connection with the twin blasts and also with regard to recovery of an unexploded bomb that was found under a foot overbridge at Dilsuknagar area in Hyderabad. The alleged IM men were among those arrested by Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) in October 2008 and later taken into custody by the Gujarat Police. Nearly 170 witnesses were examined and cross-examined during the trial. The blast at a popular eatery, Gokul Chat, killed 32 people, while 10 more died at the open air theatre at Lumbini Park, close to the state secretariat.