SC stays hanging of Red Fort attack accused

New Delhi, Dec 3 (UNI) The Supreme Court today stayed the death sentence of a Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) militant in Red Fort attack case in which three army personnel were killed on December 22, 2000.

A bench comprising Justices GP Mathur and P Sadasivam also issued notices on the petition of Mohammad Arif alias Ashfaq, a Pakistani national and LeT militant to Delhi government.

The Delhi High Court had confirmed the death sentence of the petitioner on September 14, 2007. A trial court had sentenced the petitioner to death in 2005 and Nazir Ahmed Quasid and his son Farooq Ahmed Quasid to life inprisonment.

The High Court had, however, acquitted six others in the case.

The petitioner had challenged his conviction and sentence in the case on the grounds that there was no evidence against him showing his involvement in the conspiracy and both the trial court and High Court had committed a grave error of law.

UNI