HYDERABAD: The Telangana high court on Tuesday upheld the death sentence awarded to five Indian Mujahideen operatives in the 2013 Dilsukhnagar blasts case, dismissing their appeal challenging the punishment.
A division bench comprising Justice K. Lakshman and Justice P. Sree Sudha rejected the criminal appeal filed by the five convicts, who were held responsible for the twin bomb blasts in Dilsukhnagar in February 2013, which claimed 18 lives and left over 100 people severely injured.
The convicts had approached the high court seeking to set aside the death sentence awarded by a special NIA court in Hyderabad in 2016.
While the key accused, Riyaz Bhatkal, remains absconding, the death sentence was awarded to Asadullah Akhtar (Haddi), Tabrez, Danial, Zia-ur-Rehman (Waqas), Javed Ahmed, Nabeel Ahmed, Mohd Tahseen Akhtar (Monu), Mohd Ahmed Siddibapa (Yasin Bhatkal), Shahrukh, Ajaz Shaikh, Samar Armaan, Tunde Sagar, and Aizaz Saeed Shaikh.
2013 Dilsukhnagar blasts
On February 21, 2013, two powerful bomb blasts hit the busy Dilsukhnagar market in Hyderabad, killing 18 people and injuring 131 others. The bombs were hidden on bicycles.
The first blast happened at 7.05pm near the 107 bus stop in the Malakpet police area. Just minutes later, a second explosion went off 200 meters away at the A1 Mirchi Centre, under the Saroornagar police area of Cyberabad.
After the blasts, the government sent a National Security Guard (NSG) team to investigate and announced compensation Rs 2 lakh for the families of those who died and Rs 50,000 for those seriously injured.
Investigations by the NIA and NSG pointed to the Indian Mujahideen (IM) as being behind the attack. This was supported by IM member Maqbool, who had told Delhi Police that he had visited and surveyed Dilsukhnagar in 2012.
On December 19, 2016, a special NIA court sentenced IM co-founder Yasin Bhatkal and four others—Zia-ur-Rahman, Asadullah Akhtar, Tahseen Akhtar, and Ajaz Shaikh—to death for planning and carrying out the blasts.