2007 Hyderabad bomb blasts case: Two get death sentence, one life term

Two powerful explosions had ripped through a popular eatery and an open-air theatre in Hyderabad on August 25, 2007.

Two powerful explosions had ripped through a popular eatery and an open-air theatre in Hyderabad on August 25, 2007. Photo: PTI

HYDERABAD: A metropolitan court sentenced two terrorists convicted in the 2007 twin blasts case to death and another to life imprisonment on Monday. The judgement has come eleven years after the twin bomb blasts rocked the city of Hyderabad, killing 44 people and wounding 68. Two powerful explosions had ripped through a popular eatery and an open-air theatre here on August 25, 2007. On September 4, the court had pronounced Aneeq Shafique Sayeed and Mohammed Akbar Ismail Chowdhari guilty but acquitted Farooq Sharfuddin Tarkash and Mohammed Sadiq Israr Ahmed Shaik for want of enough evidence. The court convicted the fifth accused Tarik Anjum, accused of harbouring the perpetrators in New Delhi and other places, on Monday and handed down life imprisonment to him. What is 2007 Hyderabad twin blasts case? On August 25, 2007, two bombs had exploded simultaneously in the city. The first bomb exploded in Lumbini Amusement Park, the second bomb exploded in Gokul Chat Bhandar. Two more bombs were also defused in other parts of the city. The Counter Intelligence (CI) wing of the Telangana Police had investigated the case and arrested five accused, all alleged Indian Mujahideen operatives. The agency had filed four charge sheets against the five accused and also named two other absconding accused, Riyaz Bhatkal and Iqbal Bhatkal. The Bhatkal brothers of Karnataka are believed to have taken shelter in Pakistan.