Stadium blast accused confess to ‘indirect’ involvement in crime

Bengaluru, 05 July 2018 [Fik/News Sources]: Three accused in the 2010 Chinnaswamy Stadium bomb blast on Wednesday pleaded guilty and confessed before an NIA court of their ‘indirect’ involvement in the blast. The confessing affidavit of another accused was dismissed by the court, saying the accused must confess in person.

The accused, Gowhar Azeez Khomani (A5), Kamal Hasan (A12), and Mohammed Kafeel Akhtar (A13), gave their written confession to NIA Special Court Justice Siddalinga Prabhu.

The public prosecutor submitted before the court that another accused Mohammed Taariq Anjum Ahsan (A6) had given his confession in an affidavit as his custody was taken by the Hyderabad police for investigation and he has agreed to record his confession via video conference. But Justice Siddalinga Prabhu dismissed the affidavit and told the public prosecutor that the accused must record his confession in person and that he may do so once he is back from Hyderabad.

Justice Siddalinga Prabhu posted the hearing for July 9, giving five days to the accused to rethink on their confessions. He said that the judgement in this regard will be delivered on July 9 after hearing arguments and counter-arguments.

The confessions of the accused
All the three accused told the court that they were ‘indirectly involved in the blast’ and that there was no evidence of their direct involvement. They told the court that neither they were part of the core team which carried out the blast nor they themselves carried the bomb to the stadium.

However, they told the court that they were once part of a meeting with prime accused in the case Yasin Bhatkal and Riyaz Bhatkal and other members which took place in New Delhi to discuss the blast and provided all the facilities to the other accused in Bengaluru.

They requested the court to be lenient in awarding the punishment and quash the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act slapped on them.

Mohammed Tariq Anjum Ahsan too said in his affidavit that “there is not even an iota of evidence or material against me that would connect me to the offences”. He, however, confessed to his involvement in the conspiracy of the attack with other accused in New Delhi.

On April 17, 2010, two bombs went off at the Chinnaswamy Stadium ahead of the Indian Premier League (IPL) match between Royal Challengers and Mumbai Indians, injuring 15 people including five security men.