Hyderabad: The VII Additional Metropolitan Sessions Court on Thursday acquitted 10 persons in connection with the suicide bomb blast at Old Task Force Office in Begumpet in 2005.
The court gave the acquittal verdict citing the delay by the prosecution in submitting evidence. Judge T. Srinivasa Rao, who gave the verdict in the Dilsukhnagar bomb blast case in December 2016, sentencing five persons to death, pronounced the judgement in a packed court room in the Nampally Court Complex.
The court said that the prosecution has not only delayed producing the evidence, but has also failed to prove the charges levelled against the arrested.
14 witnesses turned hostile
In addition, 14 witnesses for the prosecution turned hostile during the trial and refused to identify the accused persons before the court.
In addition to this, in this 12 year period, six magistrates and six public prosecotrs have changed till the final verdict.
Amid tight security, nine persons who were lodged at Chanchalguda Central Prison were brought to the court, while Mohammed Mahmood Ali Baroodwala, who was out on bail, came on his own to the court. He was granted conditional bail on health grounds by the High Court in 2016.
On October 12, 2005, a bomb blast at the Task Force Office killed a home guard, A Satyanarayana and a Bangladeshi suicide bomber named Dalin (A3), while another cop Venkatrao was injured. A case was registered at Punjagutta Police Station and then transferred to a Special Investigation Team of the Central Crime Station which conducted an inquiry. The SIT named the Harkat Ul Jihad Islami of Bangladesh as being involved in the blast.
The SIT also named Shahed Bilal (A1) as the mastermind of the plot and accused Ghulam Yazdani (A2) of playing a key role in bringing the suicide bomber Dalin to Hyderabad.
The SIT claimed that Bilal and Yazdani were killed in an ‘encounter’ in New Delhi and Pakistan. Seven other persons were said to be absconding, including five Bangladeshi nationals, and Farhatullah Ghori, who is allegedly from Hyderabad.
Most of the absconding accused are living in Middle East countries and working there, according to the police.
Timeline
- October 12 2005: suicide bomber blew himself in the old taskforce office in Begumpet. It was a Dusserah, case registered in Punjagutta Police station.
- December 2005: case transferred to the Special Investigation Team
- January 2016: Shakeel and Haji, first persons to be arrested, others were arrested in the following months
- 2016: Case chargesheet filed in the court
- August 10 2017: Court gives the judgement.
What the court said
The court gave the acquittal verdict citing the delay by the prosecution in submitting evidence. Judge T. Srinivasa Rao, who gave the verdict in the Dilsukhnagar bomb blast case in December 2016, sentencing five persons to death, pronounced the judgement in a packed court room in the Nampally Court Complex.
Blasts in city
January 2000
Place: Tiffin bomb blast at a sweet shop in Moghalpura
Case Status : Azam Ghouri killed in encounter
May 2006
Place: Odeon theatre blast
Case Status : Mohammed Zia Ul Haq acquitted
May 18, 2007
Place: Macca Masjid blast
Case Status : Undertrial
August 25, 2007
Place: At Lumbini Park and Gokul Chat
Case Status : Yaseen Bhaktal and four others awarded death sentence
February 21, 2013
Place: Dilsukhnagar blast
Case Status : Yaseen Bhaktal and four others awarded death sentence
