Madani free, Al Ummah chief guilty
S A Basha, founder of Tamil Nadu-based Islamic outfit Al Ummah, and 72 others convicted for Coimbatore bomb blasts of 1998.
By TNN |
COIMBATORE/NEW DELHI :S A Basha, founder of Tamil Nadu-based Islamic outfit Al Ummah, and 72 others were convicted by a special court for their involvement in the 1998 Coimbatore blasts. The blasts that occurred just before the arrival of L K Advani in the city had killed 58 people.
Basha and Al Ummah general secretary Mohammad Ansari were found guilty of hatching the conspiracy to trigger the serial blasts. The court, however, exonerated Kerala-based hardline leader Abdul Nasser Madani as the investigating agency failed to substantiate charges against him.
Judge K Uthirapathy of the sessions court said the major charge under Section 120 B (criminal conspiracy) of the IPC had been proved against 73 of the 166 accused. Mr Uthirapathy said the charges against eight persons had not been proved. He deferred the verdict against five accused and said there were minor charges against the remaining accused. The sentences are expected to be pronounced from August 6 after the judge hears arguments by the defence.
Nineteen bomb blasts, which also injured over 200 people, rocked the city shortly before the then home minister Advani’s visit to Coimbatore. The Special Investigation Team said the blasts were part of a conspiracy to eliminate Mr Advani in retaliation for the killing of 17 Muslims as a fallout of the murder of traffic constable Selvaraj on November 29, 1997.
The blasts also damaged property worth over Rs 14 crore in this industrial city. A majority of the 168 people who were arrested after the blasts owed allegiance to the Al Ummah. One of them later turned approver while another died in custody. The Special Investigation Team of Tamil Nadu CB-CID, which probed the case, argued in court that the blasts, carried out under the code name ‘Operation Allah-o-Akbar’, were part of a conspiracy to eliminate Mr Advani.
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The trial began in March 2002 and the arguments in June 2006. It was completed on April 10 after the court examined about 1,300 witnesses out of a total of 2,345.Madani, who is sick and suffering from various ailments including diabetes, and was incarcerated for more than nine years as an undertrail in Coimbatore, was granted bail by the Kerala High Court in a 15-year-old case registered against him by police for violence during a hartal in the state.
Madani’s release was being demanded by both the UDF and the LDF in Kerala. A month before the last assembly elections, the then Congress-led government had convened a special session and passed a unanimous resolution championing the case for his release.
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