Life term for three Islamists guilty of RSS office blast

A designated court, under the defunct TADA Act, on Thursday sentenced three Islamists to life imprisonment for their role in a bomb blast at the RSS headquarters here in 1993, in which 11 persons were killed and seven others injured.

The TADA court, however, acquitted four others, including Al-Umma founder SA Basha, of any involvement in the blast, which was the first instance of the use of RDX by Islamists in south India. The blast took place in central Chennai at the Tamil Nadu head office of RSS on August 8, 1993, sending shock waves in the country.

Seven men were sentenced to five years' rigorous imprisonment for various subsidiary roles in the incident, six of them under Sec 3(4) of TADA for harbouring principal suspects and abetting the offence.

In a 505-page judgement, designated Judge T Ramasamy blamed lack of religious tolerance as the motivating factor behind the crime, and blamed a section of thesociety for needless criticism and condemnation of the Holy Koran and the life of Prophet Mohammed that led to the 'inhuman and heinous crime'.

The court found Abubacker Siddique, Hyder Ali, the late Imam Ali (who was killed in a police encounter in Bangalore in 2002 after he escaped from prison) and Kaja Nizamuddin guilty of procuring eight kg of explosives, storing it in a godown, preparing bombs and planting them in the RSS office. The court sentenced Siddique, Hyder and Nizamuddin to life imprisonment on 11 counts.

Siddique, Hyder Ali and Nizamuddin were all found guilty of committing terrorist acts leading to death under Sec 3(2) of TADA, conspiracy under Sec 120-B of IPC and murder on 11 counts under Sec 302 of IPC. They were also convicted under various other provisions of IPC, Explosives Act and Explosive Substances Act. They were handed over a ten-year prison term for causing grievous injuries. All sentences are to run concurrently.

Rafiq Ahmed was found guilty of possessing incriminating materials that "showed he was promoting enmity between Muslims and Hindus in a manner prejudicial to the maintenance of religious harmony", and was therefore sentenced to three years' rigorous imprisonment under Sec 153-A of IPC.

Shahabuddin, who had burnt two shirts belonging to Imam Ali, a principal conspirator, in a bid to destroy evidence, was sentenced to a five-year term under Sec 201 of IPC for destruction of evidence.

Six others - Abdul Rahim, Ahmed Gnaniar, Syed Mohd Bukhari, SK Ahmed Ali, Mohammed Zubair and Moosa Moinuddin - were found guilty of harbouring the main suspects under Sec 3(4) of TADA.

Mukhtar Ahmed, SA Basha, Ameenuddin Sheriff and Mohammed Abdul Aslam were acquitted of all charges.

Jihad Committee founder Palani Baba, an accused in the case, was murdered in the late 1990s, while Mushtaq Ahmed, a key conspirator, is yet to be apprehended.

Many of them had undergone long years in prison before they obtained bail, and the Judge said the jail terms would be set off against the time they had already served in jail.

The case was handed over to the CBI after it was found that RDX and PETN had been used in the explosion, and that it had inter-State ramifications.

Coming within a few months of the Mumbai serial blasts of March 1993, and in the year immediately following the destruction of the disputed structure in Ayodhya, the incident created panic and concern in Tamil Nadu.