Court orders framing of charges against Yasin Bhatkal

New Delhi, Aug 1: A Delhi court today ordered framing of charges against Indian Mujahideen (IM) operative Yasin Bhatkal and 10 others in the 2010 Jama Masjid blast case.

Additional Sessions Judge Sidharth Sharma, however, discharged three alleged members of the outfit, saying there was not enough evidence against them.

The court discharged Syed Ismail Affaque, Abdus Saboor and Riyaz Ahmad Sayeedi, who were named in the charge sheet by the police.

The case pertains to an explosion near the historic Jama Masjid here on September 19, 2010 soon after two suspected IM operatives had fired at a bus from which foreign tourists were descending near a gate of the mosque. Today's order came on the blast incident.

The police had charge sheeted these suspected IM members, including its co-founder Yasin Bhatkal, in connection with the blast case and said these operatives had carried out the strike to dissuade foreign nations from participating in the the 2010 Delhi Commonwealth Games.

The police had also said IM operatives had planned that foreign tourists found near Jama Masjid would be randomly shot and a bomb blast would be executed there for maximum casualty.

It had claimed that Bhatkal had prepared a pressure cooker IED, which was planted in the car parked outside Jama Masjid, and an explosion had taken place.

The court had on July 18 reserved its order on whether to put Bhatkal on trial in four separate terror cases, including the Jama Masjid blast case, after concluding the hearing of arguments on charges in the cases.

Bhatkal was awarded the death penalty by a Special NIA Court in December last year in a case related to the 2013 Hyderabad bomb blasts, which had claimed 18 lives.