Nearly three months before the twin blasts at Lumbini Park and Gokul Chat Bhandar here, the two convicts – Anik Shafique Sayeed and Mohammed Akbar Ismail Chowdhari – were trained at a farmhouse in the scenic hills of Chikkamagaluru in Karnataka.
In May 2007, the prime accused in the Gokul Chat bomb blast case, Mohammed Riyaz Bhatkal, who is absconding and believed to be in Pakistan, sent Anik and Akbar to Bengaluru, where one Waseen alias Yaseen and Abu, received them and took them to Chikkamagaluru.
“Yaseen gave us physical training and taught how to use firearms. We also practised firing with an air gun for 10 days,” Akbar told the interrogators, adding that during the training he also learnt about different explosives.
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Both Anik and Akbar are from Pune in Maharashtra and they became friends at a mosque in Pune.
After 10 days of training, Yaseen took them to Riyaz’s flat in Mangaluru and the next day they returned to Pune, Akbar said in his confession to police.
A few days after the Mecca Masjid blast in Hyderabad on May 18, 2007, Riyaz Bhatkal went to Pune and met the convicts. “Bhatkal told us that atrocities against Muslims were increasing in Hyderabad and one Mujahid was killed in police firing and the cops also arrested Moulana Naseeruddin, apart from innocent Muslims and they must take revenge,” Akbar said.
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Bhatkal also told them that blast was executed by the Hindu right-wing activists and discussed about Gujarat riots. “He influenced us towards jihadi activities,” he said.
Once again in July, Bhatkal came to Pune and informed Anik and Akbar that they have to do some activity in Hyderabad to take revenge of the Mecca Masjid blast and explained to them about the plan.
As per their plan, Anik came to Hyderabad and while travelling in a city bus, his mobile phone was stolen. After a few days, Akbar came to the city with a mobile phone for him.
“Bhatkal warned me not to speak to anybody and maintain anonymity. I used to contact him from different PCOs in Secunderabad, Nampally and Ameerpet. I spoke to my mother once or twice from PCO,” Anik told the interrogators.
The duo took admission at a computer institute in Ameerpet introducing themselves as Satish Gaikwad (Anik) and Vinod Patil (Akbar).
A few weeks before the blast, Bhatkal came to Hyderabad and visited different places with the duo and selected Lumbini Park, Gokul Chat and Dilsukhnagar for planting bombs.
While leaving the city, he asked Anik and Akbar to buy a television and they purchased a portable colour TV from Koti for ₹4,000.
A week before the blast, Bhatkal sent them a parcel of improvised explosive devices in a bus and on August 22, 2007, he came to Hyderabad assembled the bombs with timers and briefed them about the plan.
On August 25, 2007, the trio planted three bombs of which two went off at Lumbini Park and Gokul Chat.
Forty-four people died in the blasts, while 68 were left injured. Both Anik and Akbar were convicted by a special court in Cherlapally Central Prison on Tuesday and the quantum of sentence will be announced on Monday.