Indian Mujahideen operatives Anik Shafique Syeed and Mohammed Akbar Ismail Chowdhari on Monday were sentenced to death in the 2007 Hyderabad twin blasts case by a special court in the Cherlapally Central Prison in the city.
Third convict in the case Tarik Anjum was sentenced to life imprisonment by Second Additional Metropolitan Sessions Court Judge (in-charge) T. Srinivas Rao.
Earlier in the day, the court convicted Tarik for harbouring the perpetrators of the blasts, including Indian Mujahideen chief Riyaz Bhatkal and his brother Iqbal Bhatkal, in New Delhi. A case of harbouring was also booked against him by the Delhi Police after his arrest in 2011.
On August 25, 2007, two improvised explosive devices ripped through the laserium in Lumbini Park and Gokul Chat Bhandar, a popular eatery in the busy Koti area of Hyderabad. Forty-four people were killed and 68 injured in the blasts.
On September 4 last, the judge pronounced Anik and Akbar — close associates of Riyaz Bhatkal — guilty in the case and posted the matter for September 10. The same day, he acquitted accused Farooq Sharfuddin Tarkash and Mohammed Sadiq Israr Ahmed Shaik for want of enough evidence. However, they are involved in other cases in Pune and Mumbai.
While Anik is from Bhagyodayanagar of Pune, Akbar is also from the same city.
Tarik is a civil engineer from New Delhi and a native of Bihar
The Bhatkal brothers hail from Karnataka. The third accused at large, Amir Reza Khan, is from Bihar. The three are suspected of taking shelter in Pakistan.
