2008 Ahmedabad blast case: Two among 38 convicted from Mangaluru

Mangaluru: It is really shocking that two among the 38 convicted recently by a special court in the 2008 Ahmedabad serial blast case are from Mangaluru.

Syed Mohammed Naushad (30), resident of Subhash Nagar near Pandeshwar, Ahmed Bawa Abubaker Barelvi (38), resident of Haleangadi were among those convicted for the terror attack. Another convict, Mohammed Adnan, is also from  Vijayapura in Karnataka.

The special court sentenced Naushad to life imprisonment, whereas Ahmed Bava and Adnan were handed out capital punishment for their crime.

As per police investigation, they had transported the explosives from Udupi to Surat in Gujarat in a stolen car. They rented an apartment there and assembled the bombs. After placing them at various places in Surat and Ahmedabad they fled to Pune by train. The bombs placed in Ahmedabad exploded when they were on their way to Pune, but the one planted in Surat did not go off due to a faulty circuit.

The abandoned car led to their identification. While the footage of the car used by the bombing suspects was being aired on TV channels, the owners of the rented apartment recognized it and relayed the information to the police. When the police later found explosives and other raw materials used to make the bombs from the rented house.

On August 3, 2008, Police conducted simultaneous raids around Mangaluru, including at Mukkacheri of Ullal, Chembugudde near Thokkottu, Subhashnagar of Pandeshwar, among others, and arrested Mohammed Ali and Javed Ali of Mukkacheri, Naushad of Subhashnagar, and Ahmed Bawa of Haleangadi. Later, six more accused were arrested from Ucchila near Padubidri, Chikkamagaluru, Gujarat, and Maharashtra.

During the raids, the cops recovered five bombs, Rs 11.39 lakh cash, 21 mobile phone, sim cards, maps of Gujarat, a laptop, hard disk, Jihadi literature, and four passports from the possession of Mohammed Ali, his son Javed Ali, Naushad and Ahmed Bawa.

The JMFC Court in Mangaluru, on April 12, 2017, had sentenced Syed Mohammed Naushad, Ahmed Bawa Abubaker, and another from Padubidri to rigorous life imprisonment.

During that time, accusations were raised that the trio had been wrongly implicated and petitions had been sent to the Prime Minister and the President for releasing them from prison.