NEW DELHI: A 33-year-old Indian Mujahedin operative, who was convicted in the Batla House encounter case, passed away on Saturday while he was undergoing treatment for pancreatitis at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences in the national capital. According to officials, the deceased terrorist, Shehzad Ahmed alias Pappu, who was a resident of Azamgarh in Uttar Pradesh, was serving a life sentence at the Tihar Jail.
Following the trail of investigation of the serial blasts that rocked Delhi in September 2008 in which 30 people were killed and more than 100 injured, the Special Cell of Delhi Police, a week later, carried out an armed operation to arrest terrorists of the Indian terror outfit Indian Mujahideen who were hiding in a flat at the Batla House area of Jamia Nagar, Okhla in Delhi.
When a 7-member police team reached the Batla house in the morning hours of September 19, 2008, they came under heavy fire from the terrorists which led to the said encounter.
In the encounter, two terrorists -- Atif Amin and Mohammad Sajid -- were neutralised by the police while one police officer, Mohan Chand Sharma, who had received a bullet injury, succumbed during treatment at a hospital. During the encounter, Shehzad Ahmed managed to escape but was later caught from his hometown.
He was charged for killing Inspector Mohan Chand Sharma of the Delhi Police and was later convicted and sent to Tihar Jail on February 6, 2010.
Apart from Batla House encounter case, Shehzad Ahmed was also facing trials in six other cases, one of which was registered in Bengaluru.
Nearly 12 years later, in July 2022 he was transferred from Tihar prison to central jail number 15 in Mandoli.
Officials said the convict was admitted to GTB hospital on December 8, 2022, for diagnosis of gallbladder stone-induced acute necrotizing pancreatitis with modified CTSI and referred to Safdarjung Hospital on December 27.
Thereafter, he was referred to AIIMS Hospital on January 11. On Saturday, the authorities informed that Ahmed has died at AIIMS hospital at 7.42 am.