Afzal Guru conspired and was in touch with terrorists before attack

NEW DELHI: Afzal Guru's close contacts with slain 'Fidayeen' terrorists minutes before the attack on the Parliament coupled with circumstantial evidence proved beyond reasonable doubt that he was a party to the conspiracy and played an active part, the Supreme Court had said.

The apex court, in its August 4, 2005 verdict, had noted that just before the attack on Parliament on December 13, 2001, Guru had received calls on his mobile from one of the terrorists Mohammed at 10:43 AM, 11:00 AM and 11:25 AM.

In its findings, the bench had said transcripts of the call details established that Mohammed had spoken to Guru that he along with others were going to execute the plan.

The bench also took into consideration that Guru was instrumental in providing hideout and accomodation to the terrorists at Gandhi Vihar and Indira Vihar in north Delhi and played the pivotal role in arranging the logistics including the purchase of chemicals used for preparing the explosives.

Guru had also identified the bodies of five terrorists, Mohammed, Haider, Hamza, Rana and Raja, killed during the gun battle by the security personnel inside Parliament complex.

The court had noted that evidence established that it was only Guru who was in contact with the terrorists and other three accused -- S A R Geelani, the Delhi University college lecturer, his cousin Shaukat Hussain Guru and Afsan Guru alias Navjot Sandhu.

While upholding his conviction and death sentence, the apex court had relied on the interceptions and recoveries including the mobile phones and the money reached to Guru through hawala transaction with the help of terrorists.

"The circumstances detailed above clearly establish that appellant Afzal Guru was associated with the deceased terrorists in almost every act done by them in order to achieve the objective of attacking the Parliament House," a bench comprising justices P V Reddi and P P Naolekar had said in the judgement.