A Special Court, which was holding trial into the 2000 serial church blasts in Karnataka, held 81 persons guilty of the crime
BANGALORE: A Special Court, which was holding trial into the 2000 serial church blasts in Karnataka, held 81 persons guilty of the crime on Friday. Special judge S M Shivanagoudar will pronounce the quantum of punishment to the guilty on Saturday.
The special court was constituted by the state government. Though the cases were initially investigated by the local police, it was later handed over to the Corps of Detectives (CoD), which filed chargesheets against the accused too.
The serial blasts occurred between May and July 2000 in various churches within Karnataka, Goa and Andhra Pradesh, creating panic among the people and leaving the police completely clueless.
However, on July 9, the perpetrators fell into a trap of their own making in Bangalore. The extremists were returning by a Maruti van after bombing churches in Jagajeevanramnagar when several bombs kept in their vehicle went off. According to police, it occurred when their van shook while negotiating a road hump. Two occupants of the van, Zakir and Siddiqi, died on the spot while the third, S M Ibrahim, sustained injuries.
Soon afterwards, the police raided Ibrahim's house at Murugeshpalya and seized several documents and a computer hard disk - which led to the arrests of several others in the three states. All of them belonged to an outfit called Deedar Anjuman (Religious Association), an unknown terrorist outfit till that time.
Deendar Anjuman
Deendar Anjuman was founded by Hazrath Moulana Siddique - alias Deendar
Channabasaveshwara - at Bellampet, Gulbarga district, in 1924. Its head office was at Asif Nagar, Hyderabad. Though the organisation operated behind the façade of establishing religious equality, it had a hidden Jehadi agenda, which aimed at achieving the Islamisation of India.
Soon after the death of Moulana Siddique, his eldest son Zia-ul-Hasan became its religious head. The present headquarters of Deendar Anjuman is located at Mardan in Pakistan, where Zia is settled with his family. Though it initially claimed to be a Sufi sect, the Deendar Anjuman floated a terrorist outfit called Jamat-e-Hizbul Mujahiddin (JHM) with the patronage of Pakistan's Inter Services Intelligence (ISI).
Every year, on the second week of Muslim month of Rajab (October), a religious function resembling Urs was arranged by the Deendar Anjuman centre at Hyderabad to mark the death anniversary of its founder. Zia and his family members used to visit India and meet members of the outfit across it. They also used to visit various places in Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra and Goa to collect funds and contact followers. The visits of Zia and his family were aimed at exhorting Muslim youths in India to get trained in Pakistan on matters relating to handling of weapons and explosives.
During one of the visits in October 1999, the family held a secret meeting of 'faithfuls' at Deendar's Hyderabad Ashram and conspired to wage a war against India. It was at this meeting that they decided to target churches, bridges and rail tracks so as to create communal tension and destabilise the Indian economy. The outcome of this meeting resulted in church blasts in Bangalore, Hubli, Batakurki and other places.
Terror track
1. On June 8, 2000, two crude bombs were set off at Saint Anne's Church in Wadi, Gulbarga District. The church was damaged and two persons were injured. Chargesheets were filed by the CoD against 19 persons and 15 faced trial in the case.
2. On July 9, 2000, bombs were set off at St Peter Paul Church in Jagajeevanaramnagar, Bangalore. Of the 29 accused, 17 accused faced trial.
3. On July 8, 2000, the group triggered off bombs blasts at the St John Luthern Church in Hubli. Sixteen persons faced trial in the case. The final blast occurred when a bomb went off accidentally while the terrorists were transporting them in a Maruti van on July 9.
In all the four cases, 27 common accused persons were tried together. Members of the Pakistan-based outfit, its present head Zia-ul-Hassan, and his four sons are still absconding. Red corner notices were issued against each of them and efforts are being done to extradite them from Pakistan. One of the accused died during the trial.
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