Six acquitted in Gujarat terror conspiracy case

A local court today acquitted six persons accused of hatching terror conspiracy to avenge the 2002 communal riots.

A local court on Thursday acquitted six persons accused of hatching terror conspiracy to avenge the 2002 communal riots.

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Firoz Ghaswala, Maohammad Ali Chippa, Vakil Ahmad, Umar Farookh, Anisul Bari and Muhibul Bari were arrested by the state Anti Terrorist Squad (ATS) in May 2006 on charges of having links with LeT and Huji.

The ATS was then headed by DG Vanzara, who is presently behind bars in connection with the fake encounter of Sohrabuddin Sheikh and killing of his wife Kausarbi in 2005.

Principal District Judge G N Patel while acquitting the six persons observed that the investigating agency was not able to prove their case that the accused had taken terror related training in Pakistan and Bangladesh.

The agency also could not prove any link between the accused and the banned organisations LeT and Huji, as it had contended, he said.

Illyas Pathan, one of the lawyers representing the accused, said his clients were falsely implicated in the case by the ATS.

They were charged of hatching conspiracy to destroy Kandla port, Somnath temple and Sabarmati over bridge in Ahmedabad city, he said.