HYDERABAD:The final verdict in the 2007 twin blasts case, scheduled for Monday, has been postponed to September 4. The proceedings were conducted by T Srinivas Rao, the in-charge Judge of the II Additional Metropolitan Sessions Court at Nampally.
Five of the eight accused, who were facing trial in three cases and are lodged in the Cherlapalli central prison, were produced before the court through ‘video linkage’ facility from the prison. Challa Seshu Reddy, counsel appearing on behalf of the Counter Intelligence (CI) Cell of Telangana, the investigation agency in this case, said that the court had deferred its verdict to September 4. Defence counsel Gandham Gurumurthy appearing for accused Anik Shafeeq Sayeed said that the court could not prepare the judgment due to voluminous evidences in the case. Defence counsels MA Azeem and Shaik Safiullah, appearing for accused Farooq Sharfuddin Tarkash, Mohd Sadiq Israr Shaikh, Mohammed Taariq Anjum Ahsan and Akber Ismail Chowdhury, said that the verdict will be pronounced from Cherlapally jail premises on September 4.
Anik Shafeeq Sayeed, Farooq Sharfuddin Tarkash, Mohd Sadiq Israr Shaikh and Akber Ismail Chowdhury were facing charges in three cases, which include planning and executing the blasts at Gokul Chat and Lumbini Park, and planting a bomb at Dilsukhnagar, which did not explode, while Mohammed Taariq Anjum Ahsan was charged with harbouring the accused before and after the blasts. It may be recalled that the blasts at Gokul Chat and Lumbini Park on August 25, 2007, left 43 persons dead and 72 injured, while a third bomb was defused at Dilsukhnagar. Cases were initially registered at police stations concerned and the investigation was handed over to the elite commando force OCTOPUS. The investigation was later taken over by the CI cell, which framed the charges and filed chargesheets.
Off-site verdict
This was the first instance in the State that the verdict was given through video linkage. Owing to the sensitive of the case, and the security concerns regarding the suspects, they were produced before the court through ‘video linkage’ facility from the prison itself.