A sessions court held suspected Indian Mujahideen militant Shahzad Ahmad guilty of the murder of Inspector Mohan Chand Sharma, who was killed during the controversial 2008 Batla House encounter in which two suspected terrorists were also shot dead by the Delhi Police raiding party.
Additional sessions judge Rajender Kumar Shastri also put to rest allegations that the shootout was a “fake encounter”, noting that even the defence counsel had never tried to argue that it was staged.
The minimum punishment Shahzad can expect is life imprisonment while the maximum is death. His sentence would be read out on July 29. The court also found him guilty of attempt to murder as two police officers were injured in the encounter.
This is the first conviction of any suspected IM member in the case that is connected to the 2008 Delhi serial blasts. Shahzad is also facing trial in the blasts case. The court, however, preferred not to delve into the alleged affiliation of Shahzad with the banned IM, which is accused of carrying out a number of terror strikes in the country since 2007.
“There is no evidence on record to establish that fact… This court cannot be expected to endeavour in giving any finding about it. For the purpose of this case, it hardly matters as to whether the accused was affiliated to Indian Mujahideen or not,” the judge said.
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