A Delhi court on Thursday awarded a 10-year jail term to a man, facing trial in the 2005 Diwali-eve serial blasts that claimed 67 lives. He was convicted for being a member of banned terror outfit Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) and extending support to it. 

The court acquitted two other persons — Mohammed Rafiq Shah and Mohd Hussain Fazili — of all charges, saying the special cell of the Delhi Police had “miserably failed” to prove the charges against them. 

b’All three accused were produced before the court on Thursday | Source: PTI’

The court convicted Tariq Ahmed Dar for being the member of a terror organisation and giving support to it under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA). However, it did not find any conclusive evidence of his role in the blasts. 

The serial blasts at three places – Sarojini Nagar, Paharganj and Kalkaji – on October 29, 2005 had killed 67 and injured over 225. 

Dar, who has been in jail for over 11 years, will be freed as he has already undergone the jail term. 

Observing that no conclusive evidence was found against Dar about his alleged role in the blasts, Additional Sessions Judge Reetesh Singh acquitted him of the charges of conspiracy to wage a war against the government by carrying out the blasts. 

b’A relative of a victim of the blasts emerges from the trial court | Source: PTI’

Interestingly, the special court had not framed charges under the relevant provisions of the UAPA under which he was convicted and awarded the jail term. In its order, the court said, “the prosecution has not been able to prove any link between Mohammed Hussain Fazili and Mohd Rafiq Shah on one hand, and Dar on the other.” 

“In the absence of any evidence regarding Dar being involved in the conspiracy behind these blasts, none of the charges framed against him are made out,” it said. 

The court said the prosecution had “miserably failed” to prove that Mohammed Rafiq Shah was involved in the placing of the bomb in a DTC bus on the fateful evening. It said the prosecution had also been unable to prove that Mohammed Hussain Fazili was involved in any way in the conspiracy behind the blasts. 

Farooq Ahmed Batloo and Ghulam Ahmed Khan had earlier pleaded guilty and were let off by the court for the period in jail already undergone by them. They were both accused of providing funds for a terror organisation. 

b’The site of the Sarojini Nagar blasts | Source: AFP’

Three separate cases were registered by police after the blasts. The court had clubbed all the three cases for the purpose of recording of evidence. 

The prosecution had argued that Dar, along with Abu Ozefa, Abu Al Kama, Rashid, Sazid Ali and Zahid, had allegedly entered into a criminal conspiracy to wage a war against the country and planned serial blasts. 

All these five co-accused are still at large and are said to be in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir. 

The prosecution had said that Dar had allegedly hatched a conspiracy with the LeT militants to plan and carry out the bomb blasts in the national capital.