Tendulkar kidnap plot: Final hearing against Hizb men to begin

                                    

                         

The final hearing against six alleged terrorists of Hizbul Mujahideen, arrested in 2002 for hatching a conspiracy to kidnap cricketers, Sachin Tendulkar and Sourav Ganguly, is likely to restart in a Delhi court which has got the sanction to hear cases under the POTA. The designated court of Additional Sessions Judge Pinky has been accorded sanction by the Lt Governor&aposs office for hearing cases which were lodged under special statute the Prevention of Terrorism Act (POTA). The court today fixed the case for January 20 for resumption of advancing of final arguments in the case which was stalled since November one, the day when a major reshuffle in the lower judiciary took place. The alleged Hizbul militants, who wanted to secure the release of two jailed members of the outfit by kidnapping the famous cricketers, had a wider plan of eliminating former President A P J Abdul Kalam, the then Scientific Advisor to the DefenceMinistry, the prosecution alleged. They had allegedly planned to attack the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC) in Mumbai, the prosecution said. All the accused, who were arrested in February and March in 2002, have been booked under various provisions of the POTA, the IPC and the Explosives Act, warranting maximum sentence of the death penalty. They are charged with hatching conspiracy to wage war against the state and keeping explosives. Besides three Pakistan-based accused, Tariq Mohammed, Ashfaq Ahmed and Ashad Khan, the others are -- Mufti Israr,Ghulam Qadir Bhatt and Ghulam Mohd Dar. While the alleged mastermind, Jalaluddin, has been declared a proclaimed offender after police failed to arrest him.