Bhopal: Seven members of Students’ Islamic Movement of India (SIMI) were on Tuesday awarded life imprisonment by a special NIA court here which found them guilty of attempting to murder two BJP youth wing leaders in Khandwa district in 2009. The convicted include four SIMI men who were killed in an encounter near here hours after they escaped from the Bhopal jail killing a guard on Diwali in October last year. ADJ Girish Dixit handed down life imprisonment to Abdullah alias Altaf Hussain (27), Abdul Raquib (31) and Abu Faizal alias doctor (33).
Those who were killed in police encounter included Aqueel Khilzi, Zaqir alias Sadiq, Amazad and Mehboob alias Guddu. The SIMI men had opened fire at Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha (BJYM) city president Pramod Tiwari and Khandwa BJYM city treasurer Raju Dubey in Khandwa on January 2, 2009. Dubey was severely injured while Tiwari escaped unhurt, according to the prosecution. Attempt to murder cases were filed against them.
NIA Judge Dixit handed down life imprisonment to the convicts for injuring Dubey under IPC sections 307 (attempt to murder) and 120 (b) (criminal conspiracy) and 10 years jail sentence for making attempt on Tiwari’s life. Both sentences will run concurrently. In 2015, Abu Faisal was also convicted and awarded lifer for killing constable Sitaram Yadav during jail break in Khandwa district in 2009. The court had also awarded three years imprisonment to co-accused Mahtab after finding him guilty under the Arms Act for supplying a weapon to Faizal which was used in the crime. The six SIMI operatives who had escaped from Khandwa jail were identified as Abu Fazal alias Doctor, Zakir Hussain alias Sadiq, Mehboob alias Guddu, Mohd Aslam, Amjad Ramzan and Ejazuddin, along with another jail inmate Abid Mirza Beg (all housed in barrack no. 2 of the jail from August 2013). With inputs from PTI.
