NIA convicts Yasin Bhatkal, four others in Hyderabad twin blast case

The National Investigation Agency (NIA) court on Tuesday convicted five terrorists of Indian Mujahideen (IM), including its founder leader, Yasin Bhatkal for their involvement in the twin blasts in Hyderabad's Dilsukhnagar area in 2013.

The NIA court stated that sentence will be pronounced on December 19.

At least 17 people, including a pregnant woman, were killed and 131 were injured in the twin blasts in Hyderabad's Dilsukhnagar area on February 21, 2013.

Bhatkal was listed on the NIA Most Wanted until his arrest on the India-Nepal border in Bihar on August 28, 2013.

Earlier in November, the NIA has conducted the probe and named six persons as accused. Of the six accused, main accused Riyaz Bhatkal alias Shah Riyaz Ahmad Mohammed Ismail Shahbandari is absconding.

The agency has split the case and charges were framed against the five other accused Asadullah Akhtar alias Haddi, Yasin Bhatkal alias Mohammed Ahmed Siddibappa, Tahseen Akhtar alias Monu, Zia ur Rehman alias Waqas, a Pakistan national, and Ajaz Shaikh under under sections 18 of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act 1967 r/w 10, 16, 17, 19, 20 of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act 1967, Section 120-B of the IPC r/w sections 302, 307, 324, 326, 316, 121, 121A, 122, 474 and 466 of the IPC.

The NIA had also conducted raids at various places in Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Maharashtra, looking for alleged terror modules.