14 WITNESSES TURNED HOSTILE

The VII Additional Metropolitan Sessions Court on Thursday acquitted 10 persons in connection with the suicide bomb blast at Old Task Force Office in Begumpet in 2005.

In addition, 14 witnesses for the prosecution turned hostile during the trial and refused to identify the accused persons before the court.

In addition to this, in this 12 year period, six magistrates and six public prosecotrs have changed till the final verdict.

Amid tight security, nine persons who were lodged at Chanchalguda Central Prison were brought to the court, while Mohammed Mahmood Ali Baroodwala, who was out on bail, came on his own to the court. He was granted conditional bail on health grounds by the High Court in 2016.

On October 12, 2005, a bomb blast at the Task Force Office killed a home guard, A Satyanarayana and a Bangladeshi suicide bomber named Dalin (A3), while another cop Venkatrao was injured. A case was registered at Punjagutta Police Station and then transferred to a Special Investigation Team of the Central Crime Station which conducted an inquiry. The SIT named the Harkat Ul Jihad Islami of Bangladesh as being involved in the blast.

The SIT also named Shahed Bilal (A1) as the mastermind of the plot and accused Ghulam Yazdani (A2) of playing a key role in bringing the suicide bomber Dalin to Hyderabad.

The SIT claimed that Bilal and Yazdani were killed in an ‘encounter’ in New Delhi and Pakistan. Seven other persons were said to be absconding, including five Bangladeshi nationals, and Farhatullah Ghori, who is allegedly from Hyderabad.

Most of the absconding accused are living in Middle East countries and working there, according to the police.