Akshardham case: Gujarat High Court upholds death sentence

Gandhinagar, June 1 (ANI): The Gujarat High Court on Tuesday upheld the Prevention of Terrorism Act (POTA) court's verdict awarding death sentence to three accused in the 2002 Akashardham terror attack.

A two-member division bench of Justices RM Doshit and KM Thakar upheld the sentence by a POTA court.

The POTA court had convicted six persons for providing logistic support to the two terrorists - Murtuza Hafiz Yasin and Ashraf Ali Mohammed Farooq - who stormed into the temple premises.

Both attackers alleged members of Lashkar-e-Toiba - were killed in the subsequent operation by the security forces.

Three of the six convicts - Shan Miya alias Chand Khan, Adam Ajmeri and Mufti Abdul Qayyum Mansuri were awarded death sentence.

Another convict, Mohammed Salim Shaikh, was awarded life sentence. Abdul Miyan Qadri and Altaf Hussain got ten years and five years imprisonment each.

The Akshardham case is the first in India in which the accused were convicted under POTA. (ANI)