Hubballi, May 1 (DHNS): Seventeen persons, who were arrested in 2008 on charges of conspiring for sabotage across South India, and of having links with the banned Students’ Islamic Movement of India, were acquitted by the first additional district and sessions court here on Thursday.
Mohammed Asif (30) of Raichur, Riyazuddin Nasir (27) of Hyderabad, Asadulla (30) of Hosapete, Hafiz Hussain Mulla (34) of Vijayapura, Shakeel Ahmed (36) of Dharwad, Allabaksh Yadwad (30) of Hubballi, Mirja Ahmed Baig (31) of Humnabad, Shibli (37) of Kottayam in Kerala, Yahya Kummakatti (39) of Kozhikode in Kerala, Safdarhussain Nagori (45) of Mehdapur in Madhya Pradesh, Kamruddin (41) of Ujjain in Madhya Pradesh, Mohammed Yasin (33) of Kalaburagi, Mohammed Ansar (33) of Ernakulam in Kerala, Munroj Jaman (39) of Belagavi, P A Shadoli (32) of Kottayam in Kerala and Akbarbhai Munna (36) of Udupi were acquitted, along with Syed Sadhik who was released on bail in 2011. The name of Syed Nayim of Bengaluru was dropped from the charge-sheet earlier, due to lack of evidence. Among the accused, six persons were in Dharwad jail, eight were in a Gujarat jail and two were in a Kerala jail.
Judge Gopalakrishna Kolli pronounced the judgement. K M Sheeralli and Ismail Jalagar argued in favour of the accused, while D A Bhandekar was the public prosecutor.
The case had evoked lot of curiosity as some medical students were also among the accused.