Five convicted in Hyderabad twin bomb blasts case

Hyderabad: A special court on Tuesday held five accused guilty in the 2013 twin bomb blasts case. Pronouncing the judgement, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) special court fixed December 18 for announcing the quantum of punishment for the five operatives of Indian Mujahideen. The five accused found guilty are Asadullah Akhtar alias Haddi, Yasin Bhatkal alias Mohammed Ahmed Siddibappa, Tahseen Akhtar alias Monu, Pakistani national Zia ur Rehman alias Waqas, and Ajaz Shaikh. The twin blasts in Dilsukhnagar area in Hyderabad on February 21, 2013, claimed 19 lives and injured over 130 people. The NIA, which probed the case, concluded that the blasts were engineered by the Indian Mujahideen operatives. Out of the six accused in the case, the investigating agency arrested five. Main accused Riyaz Bhatkal alias Shah Riyaz Ahmad Mohammed Ismail Shahbandari is absconding. For the last one year, the trial had been going on in the special court at Cherlapally Central Prison on the city outskirts where the five accused are currently lodged. The NIA has produced 158 witnesses, seized 201 pieces of material evidence and furnished over 500 documents in the court. Six months after the blasts, Yasin Bhatkal and Asadullah Akthar were arrested from an area in Bihar close to the Nepal border. Three other accused were arrested subsequently and the NIA filed two chargesheets against the five accused. The twin blasts occurred within a distance of 100 metres at crowded places in Dilsukhnagar on the evening of February 21, 2013. IANS