1996 Delhi blast: Court verdict likely on Mar 30
About 14 years after a blast rocked a posh market here killing 13 people, a Delhi court is likely to pronounce its verdict on March 30 against 10 alleged Kashmiri militants, including a woman.
About 14 years after a blast rocked a posh market here killing 13 people, a Delhi court is likely to pronounce its verdict on March 30 against 10 alleged Kashmiri militants, including a woman.
District and Sessions Judge S P Garg, who has recently concluded hearing final arguments in the case, has now fixed the matter for March 30.
During the arguments, Khalil Ansari, counsel for the accused, said they were innocent and had been framed in the Lajpat Nagar market terror attack.
Some of the undertrials said the alleged recoveries of arms, ammunition and explosives from different places in Jammu and Kashmir did not establish the link that same kind of explosives were used in the blast here.
They also claimed that they were in illegal custody of police even prior to blast.
On the contrary, additional public prosecutor S K Dash said the recovery of goods gave ample evidence about the antecedents of the accused and linked them with the offence.
The prosecutor said there was sufficient evidence against the 10 accused for convicting them for their role in the blast that had rocked the market on the evening of May 21, 1996, killing 13 and injuring scores of people.
Ten people, including the woman, all from Jammu and Kashmir, have faced trial in the case.
They were arrested soon after the incident by police who allegedly tracked the calls made by them to various media houses, claiming responsibility for the terror attack.
Those facing trial on various charges, including criminal conspiracy and murder, are Farooq Ahmed Khan, Mohd Naushad, Mirza Iftikhar, Mohd Ali Bhatt, Mirza Nissar Hussain, Latif Ahmed Waza, Syed Maqbool Shah, Javed Ahmed Khan and Abdul Gani and their woman associate Farida Dar.
All the accused, except the woman, are in judicial custody.