TIRUPATI: A court here on Thursday convicted three Maoists for their involvement in Alipiri bomb blast case and sentenced them to four years of rigorous imprisonment and to pay a fine of Rs 500 each.
The three, along with other Maoists, were charged with planting directional mines at Alipiri, the foothills of Tirumala, in October 2003 targeting the then chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu but he escaped miraculously from the blast.
A special investigation team (SIT), formed to probe the case, filed a charge sheet naming 33 persons _ all Naxalite leaders and sympathisers. Two separate chargesheets were filed.
Additional senior civil judge O Venkata Nageswara Rao, who heard the arguments of the prosecution and defence on the second chargesheet, delivered the verdict on Thursday.
The three accused named in the charge sheet, G Ram Mohan Reddy alias Teja (35), S Narasimha Reddy alias Rajasekhar (41) and M Chandra alias Kesav, were produced before the court. The accused were charged under IPC Sections 148, 307, 324, 326 r/w 149 and Sections 4, 5 and 6 Explosion Substances Act.
Judge Venkata Nageswara Rao convicted the trio and sentenced them to undergo four years’ RI and to pay a fine of Rs 500 each.
The accused surrendered to the police and since then they have been living freely. After they gave themselves up, the police filed the second charge sheet.
Public prosecutor G Sudhakar Babu termed the punishment unsatisfactory. ‘’We will go through the judgment copy to know on what basis on which the quantum of punishment was decided,” he said, adding that they would file an appeal before the higher court if necessary.
Defence lawyer K Kranthi Chaitanya said he too would appeal before the higher court against the verdict. Ram Mohan Reddy, one of the convicts, said that he was once associated with the Maoist movement but not involved in the Alipiri bomb blast.