Hyderabad: Indian Mujahideen terror operatives including Yasin Bhatkal had written to the judge of the trial court, who sentenced them to death for the Dilsukhnagar bomb blasts last year, stating that they wanted him to be “punished” for his hurried judgement. The IM operatives wrote the letter and submitted it hours before the 5th additional metropolitan session judge pronounced the death sentence on December 19 last year, for the Dilsukhnagar bomb blasts in which 18 persons were killed on February 21, 2013.
The judge had held them guilty six days earlier. “We have already made several complaints against you during the trial to the Supreme Court, High Court, and some other institutions. And we are eagerly waiting for the inquiry against you,” said the letter, accessed by this newspaper. “You were so adamant in convicting us. Hope these authorities will take action against you," said the letter signed by the five terrorists.
“We were sure and we were also aware that in this case, right from the first day of trial, you were following the case of Ajmal Kasab. We understood that you were always in a hurry to dispose of this by convicting us irrespective of the evidence,” the letter, which is now in the possession of the court of the district and sessions judge, Ranga Reddy, said. The IM operatives seemed to know what exactly was coming for them. It also indicated that they did not want to proceed with arguments on the day of pronouncement of sentence.
“Since we do not have faith in you and since you did not consider any of the law points cited by our counsel, we are sure that even at this stage you will not consider any argument. So we do not want to advance any argument at this stage as we do not have any faith in you.” As they stated in the letter, there were no arguments by the defence counsel before the judge pronounced capital punishment. Their lawyer, Mr R. Mahadevan, did not even come to court that day.
The IM operatives stated they would appeal the verdict. “Whatever punishment you are going to impose, we have every right to appeal against your judgement,” the letter said. The court had convicted IM operatives Yasin Bhatkal alias Mohammed Ahmed Siddibappa from Karnataka, Asadullah Akthar from Uttar Pradesh, Zia-ur-Rahman alias Waqas from Pakistan, Tahseen Akhthar from Bihar and Aizaz Shaik from Maharashtra under various sections of the Indian Penal Code, Arms Act, Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) for murder, waging war against the country, conspiracy, attempt to murder and other criminal charges.
