The National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Tuesday filed its first charge sheet in the 2011 Delhi High Court blast case, indicting six persons who according to the agency aimed to threaten the judiciary so as to get 2001 Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru's death sentence commuted.
The blast outside Gate 5 of the Delhi High Court on September 7, 2011, killed 15 people and left scores of others injured. Three of the six persons chargesheeted — Wasim Akram Malik, Amir Abbas Dev, and Abid Hussain Bhawani — were arrested while three others who are allegedly members of the Hizb-ul-Mujahideen — Amir Kamal, Junaid Akram Malik, and Shakir Hussain Seikh alias Chota Hafiz — are absconding.
While the Special Court issued non-bailable warrants against these three, the NIA announced a reward of Rs.10 lakh each to anyone who gives information about these absconders and helps in apprehending them.
The agency alleged that two Pakistani nationals, Abu Bilal and Abu Saifullah, planted the bomb outside the High Court. Investigation against these two , who are also absconding, is progressing.
An NIA official said the 1062-page charge sheet also names nearly 200 witnesses and claimed that the agency had “irrefutable evidence” in its possession collected from several sources such as Internet and telephone service providers besides visits to “far-flung areas”.
In its charge sheet the agency claimed that the conspiracy to organise a “spectacular terrorist attack” on the Delhi High Court using a powerful remote controlled IED blast was hatched between June and September 2011 at Kishtwar in the upper reaches of Jammu and Kashmir. The agency said the high altitudes, proximity to the border, and the alleged membership/links of the accused persons to proscribed terrorist organisations posed a “unique challenge” to the investigation of the case.
The alleged kingpin, Wasim Akram Malik, has been described by the NIA as an “avid Internet user” and a “leaderless jihadi” and that he “conspired and executed this cowardly and inhuman terrorist action in conspiracy with the terrorists of the Hizb-ul-Mujahideen and other outfits.”
The six persons have been chargesheeted under various provisions of the Indian Penal Code, the Explosive Substances Act, and the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act.