Batla House encounter: Court to pronounce sentence tomorrow

IM operative Shahzad Ahmad was convicted for attempt to murder and murder which entails death penalty as the maximum sentence

A Delhi court will tomorrow pronounce the sentence in the 2008 Batla House encounter case in which suspected Indian Mujahideen operative Shahzad Ahmad was convicted for killing a police inspector and assaulting other cops.

Additional sessions judge Rajender Kumar Shastri had fixed for tomorrow the order on sentence in the case in which the court had on July 25 found Shahzad guilty of assaulting police officers and obstructing them from doing their duty.

Shahzad was convicted for various offences including that of attempt to murder and murder which entails death penalty as the maximum sentence.

"He (Shahzad) is held guilty of attempting to cause death of head constables Balwant Singh and Rajbir Singh and causing death of Inspector M C Sharma by firing on them," the court had said.

The encounter had taken place at flat number L-18, Batla House at Jamia Nagar locality here on September 19, 2008, six days after serial bomb blasts had rocked Delhi, killing 26 people and injuring 133.

The police had reached Batla House on a tip off that some suspected militants involved in the blasts were holed up in the building.

Of the five, who were residing in the flat, Atif Ameen and Mohd Sajid were killed during the encounter in which highly-decorated Inspector Sharma had succumbed to the bullet injuries sustained during the gun fight while head constable Balwant was injured.

Apart from these two, one Ariz Khan alias Junaid had been declared a proclaimed offender while Mohd Saif was not made an accused in this case as according to the prosecution, he had surrendered peacefully and had not played any part in the entire incident.