By IANS,
Hyderabad : A Hyderabad court Thursday held guilty an alleged Hizbul Mujahideen militant and six others on charges of sedition and collecting arms with an intention of waging war against India.
Public prosecutor C. Sheshu Reddy told reporters that the metropolitan criminal court would pronounce the quantum of punishment Friday. The accused may face life imprisonment under various sections of Indian Penal Code.
Mujeeb, a life convict in the killing of a police officer, denied the charges.
“This is a conspiracy by MIM (Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen) leaders. I was framed as they fear I was planning to kill them,” he told reporters as he was whisked away by the police out of court premises.
Mujeeb, a resident of Toli Chowki neighborhood here, was arrested in December 2005 after Rajasthan Police in Ajmer seized a cache of arms. Three AK assault rifles, 229 cartridges and 15 detonators were hidden in a truck carrying marble to Hyderabad.
Police claimed that the arms sent by the Hizbul Mujahideen were meant for Mujeeb to carry out terror attacks in Hyderabad. Seven accused, including Mujeeb, were arrested while nine others still remain at large. The trial began in 2007.
Mujeeb was earlier sentenced to life imprisonment for gunning down additional superintendent of police Krishna Prasad in 1992. The Andhra Pradesh government released him on remission on Independence Day in 2004.
After release from prison, he allegedly reactivated his links with the Hizbul Mujahideen and other terror groups. Police claimed that he also produced several CDs in which he appealed for funds for his terror operations.
Mujeeb had also received a satellite phone from Hizbul Mujahideen leaders in Pakistan to contact the outfit’s operatives in Kashmir. Police had recovered the satellite phone and booked him under Indian Telegraph Act.