BENGALURU: The special court for the trial of NIA cases has rejected the application pleading guilty and seeking leniency while awarding sentence, by three accused, including the founder of Base Movement, a homegrown terror outfit, who had carried out a blast in Mysuru court in 2016.
Nainar Abbas Ali alias Library Abbas, M Samsun Karim Raja alias Abdul Karim, and Dawwod Sulaiman, all three hailing from Madurai in Tamil Nadu, were arrested in connection with an IED blast on the premises of Mysuru court on August 1, 2016.
The accused had moved a petition last year submitting that they are in custody for the last three years, were remorseful for the act alleged, and wanted to return to the mainstream and be productive for the nation.
The special court judge Kasanappa Naik rejected the application on Friday stating that the court shall not permit the accused to plead guilty when a serious offence is involved, "In this case, the offence involved is planting a bomb in a toilet of the court premises and some witnesses have sustained injuries. Moreover, the averments of the application filed by the accused show that their plea of guilty is unqualified as they are expecting the court to take lenient view while awarding sentence."
Investigations had revealed that the blast at Mysuru court was carried out to avenge the hanging of Yakub Memon. Ali, who had allegedly worked for Al Muthaqueem Force (AMF), a terrorist outfit, had allegedly formed 'Base Movement' to send threat and warning messages to the government and its departments, particularly the Department of Prison.
Ali had recruited Sulaiman, who was an engineering student, and Samsun Karim Raja, Mohammed Ayub, and Shamsuddin Kuruva, and conspired to carry out blasts at different Court Complexes in Southern India.
This was in retaliation to the arrest of Muslims in cases related to attack on BJP leader LK Advani and other important cases pertaining to national security, to oppose former French President Francois Hollande’s visit to India on a Republic Day, and to oppose the publishing of a cartoon by Charlie Hebdo in a Tamil newspaper.