Two convicted in 2007 Hyderabad twin blast case which had claimed 42 lives

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A court here on Tuesday convicted two alleged Indian Mujahideen (IM) operatives in the 2007 Hyderabad twin bomb blasts which had claimed 42 lives. Two other accused were acquitted while the fate of a fifth accused will be decided next week.

The Second Metropolitan Sessions Court held Anique Shafiq Syed and Akbar Ismail Choudhary guilty. The quantum of punishment will be announced on September 10. Anique allegedly planted the bomb at Lumbini Park which claimed 10 lives while Akbar kept the bomb at Diluskhnagar but it failed to explode.

Farooq Sharfuddin and Sadiq Ahmed Sheikh were acquitted for lack of evidence. Public Prosecutor Seshu Reddy told reporters that the verdict in the case relating to the fifth accused Tariq Anjum will be pronounced on Monday. Anjum is accused of giving shelter to the other accused after the blasts.

Second Additional Metropolitan Sessions Judge T. Srinivas Rao delivered the judgment at the high-security Cherlapally Central Prison on the city's outskirts. All the accused barring Anjum were produced before the judge. While 32 people were killed at Gokul Chat, a popular eatery, 10 others lost their lives at Lumbini Park, near State Secretariat, in near-simultaneous blasts around 7.45 p.m. on August 25, 2007.

More than 50 were injured in the blasts. An unexploded bomb was also recovered under a foot-over-bridge at Dilsukhnagar that night. The accused were arrested by the Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad in October 2008. Three other accused including IM chief Riyaz Bhatkal and his brother Iqbal Bhatkal still remain at large.

The case was initially investigated by the Andhra Pradesh Police and following bifurcation of the state, it was handed over to the Counter Intelligence (CI) wing of Telangana Police. Three charge sheets were filed against the accused. In 2014, the court framed charges against them. They were charged with murder and other offences under the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and Explosive Substances Act.

The trial against them was shifted to a court hall located in the premises of the prison in June this year on security grounds.

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