26/11 plotter Abu Jundal, six others sentenced to life till death
Abu Jundal
On Tuesday, a special MCOCA Court sentenced Lashkar-e-Taiba operative and 26/11 Mumbai terror attack plotter Sayed Zabiuddin Ansari alias Abu Jundal and six others to life imprisonment till death in the 2006 Aurangabad arms haul case.
Two other accomplices have been sentenced to life imprisonment and three others were awarded eight years jail term. All those convicted were fined Rs.20,000 each.
The Special MCOCA Judge, S.L. Anekar had found the 12 accused guilty on July 28. However, the punishment was announced today.
The seven sentenced to undergo life imprisonment till death are Abu Jundal, Mohammed Amir Shakil Ahmed, Bilal Ahmed Abdul Razaq, Sayyed Akif S. Jafruddin, Afroz Khan Shahid Pathan, Faisal Ataur-Rehman Shaikh and M. Aslam Kashmiri.
Two other convicts, M. Muzafar Mohammed Tanveer and M. Sharif Shabbir Ahmed, have been sentenced to serve 14 years in jail. Whereas three other convicts, Afzal K. Nabi Khan, Mushtaq Ahmed M. Isaf Shaikh, Javed A. Abdul Majid, have been slapped with eight-year sentences.
Of the convicts, Faisal Ataur-Rehmah Shaikh had earlier been sentenced to death in the July 11, 2006 Mumbai serial blasts in suburban trains case.
Of the total 22 accused, eight were acquitted on various grounds including lack of evidence. They are: Mohammed Juber Sayyed Anwar, Abdul Azim Abdul Jalil, Riyaz Ahmed M. Ramzan, Khatib Imran Akil Ahmed, Vikar Ahmed Nisar Shaikh, Abdul Samad Shamsher Khan, Mohammed Akil Ismail Momin and Firoz Tajuddin Deshmukh.
Reportedly, the stringent charges under Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA) were dropped against all the accused and they have instead been punished under various sections of Indian Penal Code, Unlawful Activities Prevention Act, Explosives Act and Arms Act.
