SC stays death of Akshardham attackers

The Supreme Court on Monday put a stay order on the death sentence of three men found guilty in the 2002 Akshardham Temple attack that killed 32 persons.

The bench of Justice B Sudarshan Reddy and Justice S Nijjar stayed the death sentences of Adam Ajmeri, Shah Miya alias Chand Khan and Mufti Abdul Qayyum Mansuri.

It also stayed life imprisonment of Mohammed Salim Shaikh from Dariapur area of Ahmedabad and ten-year imprisonment of Abdulmiyan Qadri.

On June 1, the Gujarat High Court upheld death sentences of Ajmeri, Khan and Mansuri.
In July 2006, a special POTA court awarded death sentences to the trio.

Apart from these three, Shaikh was sentenced to life, Qadri got a 10-year imprisonment while one Altaf Hussain was sentenced to imprisonment for five years.

Murtuza Hafiz Yasin and Ashraf Ali Mohammed Farooq, had stormed the temple premises on September 25, 2002 and killed 32 persons.

Both the allaged Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) attackers were gunned down by security forces.