Fresh charges were framed by a local court here on Wednesday against the four accused in the 2007 twin blasts.
The second Metropolitan Sessions judge’s court framed charges against Mohd Akbar Ismail Chowdhary alias Sayeed, Anique Shafeeq Sayeed alias Anique, Mohd Sadiq Ansar Ahmed Shaik alias Yaseer and Farooq Sharfuddin Tarkash alias Abdullah - all alleged Indian Mujahideen (IM) operatives.
The accused have been charged under Section 302 (murder), sections of Explosive Substances Act and Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act and other relevant provisions of the Indian Penal Code(IPC).
All the four accused denied the charges framed against them and said that they were innocent and were framed in the case.
The court has posted the matter to October 28 for fixing the schedule for commencement of the trial.
The four accused were brought by Mumbai police to Hyderabad on prisoner transit warrants and were produced before the court amidst tight security.
The blast at Gokul Chat killed 32 people, while 10 persons died at the Lumbini Park. The case remained unsolved for more than a year until the Mumbai ATS nabbed a group of seven Indian Mujahideen operatives after the Delhi blasts.
The Mumbai police, which had arrested three persons-Akbar Ismail Chowdhary, Aneeq Shafeeq and Ansar Ahmad Shaikh in connection with some other terror incidents in October 2008, learnt about their involvement in the Hyderabad blasts in the course of interrogation and informed the Hyderabad police about it. They were brought to Hyderabad in February 2009 by the Mumbai police.
According to police it was Riyaz Bhatkal, who planted the bomb at Gokul Chat while Aneeq Shafeeq planted the bomb at Lumbini Park. The third bomb at Dilsukhnagar bridge was placed by Akbar Chowdhary but it did not explode.
According to police Anique, Akbar and Farooq were reportedly lured by Riyaz Bhatkal to carry out the explosions in Hyderabad by convincing them that it was the Hindu militant organisations that have executed the bomb explosion in Mecca Masjid. Bhatkal and two other persons involved in the case are still absconding.
The OCTOPUS, which took up the investigation in November 2008, filed 1,207-page chargesheet with the first additional chief metropolitan magistrate in which 159 witnesses have been cited.