Key conspirator in Akshardham attack case being brought to city

The DCB team procured a three-day transit remand for Ghauri from a local court in Hyderabad and were on their way to Ahmedabad at the time of filing of this report.

A suspected Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) operative,Ghauri,who is a close associate of the alleged mastermind behind the attack,Abu Hamza,had attended the pre-Akshardham attack conspiracy meetings at Riyadh in Saudi Arabia,and later at Hyderabad in 2002. Ghauri is also accused of raising funds for the attack,DCB sources said.

Ghauri and his brother,Farhatullah,who is also accused of supporting and motivating the terrorists who carried out the attacks,were in Hyderabad at the time of the attack. They later fled to Saudi Arabia after their names figured in the list of suspects.

Thirty-four people,including two National Security Guards (NSG) commandos and two state police commandos were killed and more than 80 others injured when two Pakistan-based terrorists stormed the temple in Gandhinagar on September 24,2003,and opened indiscriminate fire with their automatic weapons and lobbed grenades.

A designated POTA court in Gujarat convicted three of the six accused,arrested in the case,to death,in July 2006. Another accused was sentenced to a life term in prison,while two others were awarded punishment of 10 and five years each. Those convicted in the case had challenged the designated POTA court’s judgement in the Gujarat High Court.

The hearing in the case is over and the HC judgement is awaited. Of the total of about 30 accused in the case,more than 20 are still at large.