The Telangana High Court upheld the death sentence given to five men convicted in the 2013 Dilsukhnagar bomb blasts case, including co-founder of the terror group Indian Mujahideen, Yasin Bhatkal, on Tuesday, April 8.
The twin blasts occurred on February 21, 2013, in Hyderabad's Dilsukhnagar area, killing 18 people and injuring around 130 others. The National Investigation Agency (NIA) Fast Track Court awarded the death penalty to the convicts in 2016.
A Telangana High Court division bench of Justices K Lakshman and P Sree Sudha have now dismissed the criminal appeals filed by the five convicts – Yasin Bhatkal, Asadullah Akhtar, Waqas, Tehseen Akhtar, and Ejaz Sheikh – challenging the NIA court’s verdict.
The NIA arrested Yasin Bhatkal and his co-accused Asadullah Akhtar alias Haddi in August 2013. The NIA also arrested Tehseen Akhtar and Zia ur Rehman, a Pakistani national, in May 2014. Later, Aizaz Sheikh from Pune, Maharashtra, was also arrested for his involvement in the crime. The prime accused in the case, Mohd Riyaz alias Riyaz Bhaktal, is still absconding.
Yasin Bhatkal was arrested near the India-Nepal border in August 2013 following the Hyderabad blasts. He has since been lodged in Delhi’s Tihar jail.
In 2016, the NIA Fast Track Court found the five accused guilty of orchestrating the attacks. They were accorded capital punishment for violating Sections 121 (criminalises waging war against the Indian government) and 302 (punishment for murder) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) read with Section 16 (commission of terrorist acts causing death of innocent civilians) of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act and Section 3 (b) (punishment for making or possessing explosive substances with the intent to endanger life or cause serious injury to property) of the Explosive Substances Act, 1908.