Kollam: The Principal Sessions Court Kollam on Monday found three people guilty in the Kollam Collectorate blast case. The fourth accused has been acquitted in a verdict delivered eight years after the bomb blast.
Abbas Ali, Karim Raja, Dawood Sulaiman, all hailing from Tamil Nadu, were convicted in the case, while Shamsudeen was released.
The explosion took place on June 15, 2016. The blast rocked the collectorate premises, injuring one person. The court will announce the quantum of sentence for the guilty on Tuesday.
Final hearings were concluded by Thursday and Friday, following which the court scheduled a pronouncement on November 4. Initially, the verdict was to be announced on October 29.
However, the court postponed the decision, seeking additional clarification on statements made by the accused.
They had used an improvised explosive device (IED) that was detonated with the help of a timer device. The IED was planted inside an unused jeep of the labour department that was parked near the Kollam Munsiff Court.
The accused faced charges under relevant sections of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, the Explosives Act, and other pertinent sections of the IPC. They were arrested by the National Investigation Agency in 2017.
Apart from the Kollam collectorate blast case, they are accused in cases pertaining to blasts that occurred on court premises in Chittoor in Andhra Pradesh, Mysore in Karnataka Nellore in Andhra Pradesh, and Malappuram.
It was found that Karim Raja was responsible for planting the bombs at each location. The accused were reportedly part of the Base Movement, which is an obscure outfit that owed allegiance to terror outfit Al Qaeda.
Mohammad Ayub, a Base Movement activist, turned approver in the case. During interrogation, Ayub cooperated fully with authorities and provided statements implicating the other four accused.