Suspected Indian Mujahideen terrorist Shahzad Ahmad was today convicted by a Delhi court for murdering a police inspector in the 2008 Batla House encounter, an incident Congress leader Digvijay Singh had dubbed it as fake triggering a major controversy.
"He (Shahzad) is held guilty of attempting to cause death of Head Constables Balwant Singh and Rajbir Singh and causing death of Inspector M C Sharma by firing on them," Additional Sessions Judge Rajender Kumar Shastri said. Sentencing will be done on Monday.
"He is also found guilty of assaulting police officers and obstructing them from doing their duty," the judge said.
The court found Shahzad guilty of murder, attempt to murder, obstructing and assaulting public servants and grievously injuring the police officers to deter them from performing their duty.
The encounter had taken place at flat no. L-18, Batla House in Jamia Nagar locality here on September 19, 2008, six days after serial bomb blasts rocked Delhi, killing 26 persons and injuring 133 others. Of the five flat occupants, Atif Ameen and Mohd Sajid were killed during the encounter.
Highly-decorated Delhi Police Inspector Mohan Chand Sharma succumbed to the bullet injuries sustained during the gun battle while head constable Balwant was injured.
Lawyers for the convict expressed disappointment over the verdict and said they would appeal in the High Court.
Soon after the incident, Digvijay Singh had created a big furore going public with a demand for a judicial probe into the encounter calling it fake. The government, however, rejected his demand and stuck to its position that the encounter was genuine.
The BJP hailed the judgement and accused the Congress of having played vote bank politics on the encounter.
Finance Minister P Chidambaram, who as then Home Minister monitored the probe into the Batla House case, said he felt the was genuine and was satisfied that the prosecution could prove the case in court.
Describing BJP's charge as ridiculous, he said the party should look inwards and see what it was doing over some other encounter cases, an obvious reference to the incidents in Gujarat.
