Pune: A Pune court yesterday held German Bakery blast prime accused and Indian Mujahideen operative Himayat Baig guilty for his role in the terror attack which left 17 people dead, drawing the curtain on the trial in the Valentine’s Day eve tragedy here in 2010.
Pune Sessions Court Special Judge M P Dhote delivered the verdict before a packed courtroom in the morning.
“Taking into consideration the evidence before me, I am holding Baig guilty,” Special Judge Dhote said of the lone arrested accused who planted the bomb under one of the tables in the German Bakery restaurant.
He will on Thursday pronounce the quantum of sentence for Baig on the various charges, many of which attract the death penalty.
A resident of Beed district, Baig was nabbed from Udgir town in neighbouring Latur district by the state Anti-Terrorism Squad in September 2010, nearly seven months after the terror attack.
Special Public Prosecutor Raja Thakre said Baig was charged under Indian Penal Code Sections 302, 307 (murder and attempt to murder), 435, 474 (mischief by fire and explosive and forgery) and 120(b) (criminal conspiracy), besides other charges under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act and the Explosives Act.
Baig’s lawyer A Rahman said though he respected the special court verdict, he would challenge it in the Bombay High Court.
“We are going to appeal in the Bombay High Court. I am sure we shall get justice there,” Rahman told reporters shortly after the verdict.
The court upheld the prosecution contention that the blast was “a carefully planned and executed attack” calculated to terrorise the general public, causing extensive damage to life and property.
The prosecution said the primary objective of the terror attack was to undermine and reduce faith of the common people in the elected government and destabilise the system of law.
The special judge upheld the prosecution argument that the terror attack caused deaths of foreign nationals, earning the country a bad name. Five foreigners were among the 17 victims of the February 13, 2010 blast.
The prosecution named seven people in the charge-sheet, including absconders Yasin Bhatkal, Riyaz Bhatkal, Iqbal Bhatkal, Mohsin Choudhary and Fazzay Kagti, besides Himayat Baig (who was nabbed).
Another accused named in the charge-sheet, Zabiuddin Ansari alias Abu Jundal, who is undergoing trial in other terror cases, has been booked for the German Bakery blast.
After his arrest in September 2010, the ATS charged Baig with hatching a conspiracy along with his six associates for the terror blast at German Bakery, situated in the up-market Koregaon Park area of Pune.
IANS
