Hyderabad blasts: Five IM cadres sentenced to death

Hyderabad: Five key operatives of Indian Mujahideen, including the banned terror outfit’s co-founder Yasin Bhatkal and a Pakistani national, were on Monday awarded death penalty by a Special NIA Court here in the February 2013 Hyderabad bomb blasts which claimed 18 lives.
Pronouncing the sentence, Judge T Srinivasa Rao described the case as the “rarest of the rare”.
This is the first case where operatives of the home-grown group have been convicted in a terror case.
NIA Special Public Prosecutor K Surender said the court, after going through their evidence, found that the case is based on facts.
“As per investigation evidence that is placed on record clearly reflects that the five IM members planned and executed the bomb blasts. We sought capital punishment and accordingly the court gave death penalty to them,” he said. The prosecutor described the verdict as a “victory” for NIA’s investigation and the witnesses.
The court, after hearing the arguments of prosecution and defence counsels on sentencing, awarded death penalty to the convicts. (PTI)