Five more convicted in Coimbatore blasts case

Coimbatore, Aug 6: A Special Court, hearing the 1998 Coimbatore serial bomb blasts case, today convicted five accused, for whom pronouncement of judgment was deferred on August 1 Special Court Judge K Uthirapathy held the accused - Sarbudeen, Sikander, Mir Shabir Ahmed, Ayyappan and Ubaidur Rehman, guilty of minor charges.

Since major charges like criminal conspiracy were not proved against them, the Judge asked them to file bail applications before the court.

Earlier, the Judge had convicted 153 of the total 167 accused, including Al-Umma leader S A Basha, in the case on August 1 and acquitted eight others, including Kerala-based People's Democratic Party Chairman Abdul Nasser Maudhany.

Meanwhile, the court had started hearing the bail petitions of the 84 people, convicted of minor charges. The Judge asked the Public Prosecutor to file a list of persons from among the 84, against whom no other case was pending, so that their petitions could be disposed of first.

In all, 58 people were killed and more than 250 injured in the February 14, 1998, serial blasts that rocked the textile city, minutes before BJP leader L K Advani was to address an election meeting ahead of the Lok Sabha polls. The explosions at 19 locations betwen February 14 and 17 were to avenge the communal riots here in November-December 1997 in the wake of the killing of traffic constable Selvaraj on November 29, 1997, by suspected Al-Umma cadre.

UNI