New Delhi, The Supreme Court has stayed the execution of the death sentence handed down to an Indian Mujahideen operative for his role in the 2008 Ahmedabad serial bomb blasts that left 56 people dead.
Forty-nine people were convicted by the special court. A bench of Justices Vikram Nath, Sandeep Mehta and Aparesh Kumar Singh agreed to hear a plea filed by convict Mohammad Tanvir, who has challenged the Gujarat High Court’s July 7 verdict. Seventy-eight people were put on trial after 35 police cases 20 relating to the Ahmedabad blasts and 15 linked to unexploded bombs recovered in Surat were merged.
The apex court asked the Gujarat government to place the reports of all probation officers relating to the appellant before it within eight weeks. On July 7, the high court upheld the death sentences of 38 operatives of terror outfit Indian Mujahideen in the serial-bomb-blasts case.
The high court had cited the large number of casualties, the “humongous” nature of the conspiracy and the intention to spread widespread terror as key reasons for affirming the punishment. “There shall be stay of execution of the death sentence awarded to the appellant ,” the top court said in its October 9 order. It said the original records of the case be summoned from the trial court and the high court.
