A Designated court on Monday convicted
four people under Pota
for the December 13, '01 attack
on Parliament.
While three of those found guilty, including the Arabic lecturer of Delhi's Z H College Abdul Rehman Geelani were charged with attempting to kill Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and deputy prime minister LK Advani and other senior political leaders. 'I hold three persons guilty for waging war against the state,' designated court's judge SN Dhingra said. The fourth, the wife of one of the three, was convicted of criminal conspiracy. The judge said the sentences would be announced on Tuesday.
Five gunmen had stormed the Parliament complex on December 13 last year and killed nine people, most of them security guards, before they were killed by the forces.
The police investigations into the case had concluded that they were members of the Pakistan-based jehadi outfit Jaish-e-Mohaminad.
The two, Mohammad Afzal and Shaukat Hussain, were picked up by police in Srinagar two days after the attack. Hussain's wife, Navjot Sandhu, and Geelani, were arrested in the Capital the same day.
The police said the three men confessed
to their involvement while in custody and the confession was produced as
evidence in the court under Pota. Three others have been charged for the
attack but remain at large, including Jaish founder Maulana Masood Azhar
who was last week freed from house arrest by a court in Pakistan.