Court frames charges against IM's Yasin Bhatkal, 8 others

A Delhi court today put Indian Mujahideen (IM) operative Yasin Bhatkal and eight others on trial in two cases relating to the 2010 Jama Masjid blast.
Additional Sessions Judge Sidharth Sharma said there was enough evidence against them and framed the charges.
The accused persons pleaded not guilty and claimed trial.
The court issued production warrant against accused Azaz Saikh, who could not be produced from a Mumbai jail where he is lodged.
Besides Bhatkal, those who were put on trial include Gauhar Aziz Khomani, Gayur Ahmad Jamali, Mohd Adil, Mohd Irshad Khan, Mohd Aftab Alam, Kamal, Assadullah Akhtar and Zia-ur-Rehman.

Another accused Modh Qateel Siddiqui died during the pendency of the case, advocate M S Khan, who appeared for the accused, said.

The police had earlier filed charge sheet against eleven suspected IM members in connection with the blast case, alleging that they had carried out the strike to deter foreign nations from participating in the 2010 Delhi Commonwealth Games.
A bomb fitted in a car had exploded near the historic Jama Masjid here on September 19, 2010, soon after two suspected IM operatives had opened fire at a bus from which foreign tourists were descending near a gate of the mosque.

Two Taiwanese tourists had sustained bullet injuries in the firing incident for which a separate case was lodged.
Two seperate cases were filed in this regard. While the first was about the blast, the second one was on the firing incident.
The police had earlier said that the IM operatives had planned that foreign tourists found near Jama Masjid would be randomly shot at and a bomb blast would be executed there for maximum casualty.
It had alleged that Bhatkal had prepared a pressure cooker fitted with improvised explosive device, which was planted in the car parked outside the mosque.