3 Kashmiri’s accused in 2005 Delhi blasts walk free after 11 years

Over 11 years after three bombs went off in crowded Delhi markets ahead of Diwali killing 67 people, a court here on Thursday let off three Kashmiris accused in the case for lack of evidence. The court pulled up Delhi Police for failure to prove any links of the accused with the 2005 serial blasts.
The court, while letting off all the three accused, convicted one of them for a minor crime of having links with the Lashkar-e-Taiba.
The serial blasts had gone off in crowded market places of Sarojini Nagar, Kalkaji and Paharganj, rocking the city on October 29, 2005, two days before Diwali when the area was crowded with shoppers.
Additional Sessions Judge Reetesh Singh acquitted Mohammed Hussain Fazili and Mohammed Rafiq Shah of all the charges.
However, the third accused Tariq Ahmad Dar, who worked with a private company, was sentenced to jail for the period already undergone since his arrest on November 10, 2005, for being a member of the banned LeT.
This means all the three would walk free in the case. The Delhi Police may decide to appeal against the verdict.
The prosecution had accused the three of waging war against the state, conspiring, collecting arms, murder and attempt to murder – the charges if proven could have invited life imprisonment or even death.
“There was no link to establish that the accused were part of any conspiracy related to the blast(s),” the judge said in his verdict.
“The prosecution has not been able to prove any link between Fazili and Shah on the one hand and Dar on the other. The contents of these (telephonic) conversations therefore fall short in enabling this court to come to any definite conclusion that Dar was part of the conspiracy behind theses blasts,” the court said.
“Therefore 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.”
The court said the prosecution had “miserably” failed to prove that Shah was involved in planting one of the bombs in a bus in south Delhi.
All three accused were picked up in November that year and have been in Tihar jail since then.

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