PATIALA: A designated court on Tuesday convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment three accused for hijacking an Indian Airlines plane carrying 179 passengers and 11 crew members to Kandahar in Afghanistan in December 1999.
Judge Inderjit Singh Walia pronounced the verdict under various Sections of the IPC and anti-hijacking law on Abdul Latif, Bhupal Man Damai alias Yusuf Nepali and Dalip Kumar Bhujail.
CBI had demanded death sentence for Latif. Nepali and Bhujail have also been found guilty under the Arms Act for which they’ve been given three years’ jail. All the sentences are to run concurrently.
The plane, on way from Kathmandu to Delhi, was hijacked on December 24, 1999, and taken first to Lahore, Pakistan, and from there to Amritsar, and finally to Kandahar in Afghanistan.
The five hijackers - Ibrahim Athar (brother of Jash-e-Mohammed chief Maulana Masood Azhar), Sunny Ahmed Qazi, S A Sayed alias Doctor, Z I Mistri alias Bhola and R G Verma alias Shakir - holding the plane and passengers to ransom, then negotiated with Indian officials the release of Azhar and two other terrorists released from Indian jails.
Defence counsel Brijinder Singh Sodhi told reporters that the three would move Punjab & Haryana High Court against the verdict. He claimed the verdict was based on allegations, which isn’t sufficient for life imprisonment.
Ten persons, including seven Pakistanis, were accused in the case but only three, Yusuf of Nepal, Abdul Latif of Mumbai and Bhujail of Kalimpong in West Bengal were arrested. They have been in jail for the last eight years.
While Nepali was accused by CBI as the person who handed over the passport and tickets to the hijackers, Bhujail was accused by the agency of supplying them arms and ammunition for kidnapping the plane.
Besides Azhar, the other two released in exchange were Omar Sayeed Sheikh (now in Pakistan prison for killing
Wall Street Journal journalist Daniel Pearl) and Mushtaq Zargar, chief of Al-Umar Mujahideen militant outfit.
The judge awarded the three life terms for murder under Section 302 and for using violence in aircraft under Section 5 of Anti-Hijacking Act.
They were also fined Rs 10,000. Abdul Latif, Bhujbal and Yusuf Nepali were awarded seven years RI for attempt to murder under section 307, five year prison term for kidnapping and abduction under Section 363 and also for wrongful confinement under section 342.
Azhar, Zargar, Sheikh, along with seven absconders, are all in Pakistan. The hijackers had threatened the commander to divert the aircraft to Lahore failing which it would be blown up.
The commander diverted the aircraft to Lahore but was declined permission to land there. The plane then landed
at Amritsar and was on Amritsar airport for about 49 minutes.
The commander got in touch with the ATC and wanted fuel. The hijackers were agitated throughout their stay at Amritsar and had ordered the commander to keep the engines on.
They had segregated eight able-bodied passengers and tied them to their seats for killing if their demands were not met.
They stabbed Rupin Katyal and Satnam Singh with knives at Amritsar and forced the commander to take off at gun point for Lahore even without fuel.
Rupin Katyal later succumbed to his injuries in the aircraft.
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