Seven men were on Friday convicted by a court here for making and hiding explosives as part of a larger conspiracy to eliminate leaders of Hindu outfits, and sentenced to five years rigorous imprisonment in the case that goes back to 1997.
Delivering the judgement in the Kodungaiyur explosives haul case, the judge of the Special Court for bomb blast cases, P Senthoorpandi, held seven of the nine accused, including prime conspirator Mohammed Khan alias Sirajudeen, guilty. The two others were acquitted.
All the four charges, including conspiracy under the Indian Penal Code and making explosives and attempt to cause explosion with intent to endanger life and property under the Explosive Substances Act, were proved against the seven of them, the Judge said in his order.
Though the seven convicts have already served the jail term awarded by the court, they will continue to be in prison in connection with other cases.
The convicts pleaded for a minimum sentence and wanted the period they had already spent in prison to be set off against the sentence.
The judge sentenced them to five years RI for each of the four offences and ordered that the sentences would run concurrently.
According to the prosecution, the prime accused Mohammed Khan, the younger brother of Basha, the key accused in the sensational Coimbatore serial bomb blast cases, was allegedly associated with the banned terror outfit Al-Umma.
The case, probed by the CB-CID Special Investigation Division, dates to 1997 and pertains to the huge haul of explosives, including crude bombs from a house at Kodungayur here on March 11 that year.
On the judgement, Special Public Prosecutor N Vijayaraj said the offences may have attracted even life sentences, considering the amendments made post 2000 to relevant laws.
"Since this case was filed in 1997 the sentences were consistent with the punishment pertaining to that period," he told PTI.
The crux of the prosecution case was that the accused conspired to eliminate prominent leaders of Hindu outfits to avenge the murder of a Muslim leader Palani Baba, allegedly by Hindu activists in January 1997.
As part of their conspiracy, they made bombs and hid them in the house before the explosives cache was seized by police.
The prosecution examined 44 witnesses, marked 94 evidentiary articles and 58 documents during the trial.
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