New Delhi, May 25 (IANS): The Supreme Court Tuesday stayed the death sentence of Aftab Ahmed Ansari, alias Aftab Ansari, a co-accused in the Jan 22, 2002, attack on the American Center in Kolkata that left six policemen dead.

On May 10, the Supreme Court had stayed the death sentence of Mohammed Jamiluddin Nasir who was also convicted in the same case.

Besides staying the death sentence of Nasir till the time his appeal is pending, an apex court bench of then chief justice K.G. Balakrishnan, Justice Deepak Verma and Justice B.S. Chauhan issued notice on an appeal by the West Bengal government.

The state government challenged the lower sentences awarded to five other convicts in the attack and demanded that their sentences be enhanced.

Ansari and Nasir were awarded death terms by the trial court April 26, 2005. The death sentence was confirmed by the Calcutta High Court Feb 5, 2010.

The trial court had acquitted two accused - Shakil Mallik and Dilip Kumar Kantilla - and awarded death to seven accused for their involvement in the 2002 attack.

On a reference, the high court only confirmed the death penalty of the Nasir and Ansari and let off the other five with lighter sentences. The five were Adil Hussain, Rehan Alam, Musarat Hussain, Husrat Alam and Shakir Akhtar.

In its appeal through counsel Abhijit Bhattacharjee, the state government contended that the high court judgment acquitting the five of the charge of waging war and convicting them on lesser count of forging documents was "erroneous both in fact and law".

The government’s appeal petition faulted the high court for failing to see that all of them were a part of a larger conspiracy to wage war against the country.

Their acts were steps in the ultimate act of waging war against the country and could not be seen in isolation, the petition said.