POTA court acquits two in 2002 Akshardham temple attack case

Zee Media Bureau

Ahmedabad: A POTA court here on Friday acquitted two accused in the 2002 Akshardham temple attack case. Majid Patel alias Umarji and Shaukatullah Ghori were today found not guilty by the special POTA court, which had concluded hearing the case on May 23. Judge Geeta Gopi of the Prevention Of Terrorism Act (POTA) court had then reserved the pronouncement of judgement to June 6. Patel, accused of managing funds for the terror attack, was held in 2008 from Bharuch district while Ghori was arrested from Hyderabad in the same year. During the trial, prosecution noted that the recent judgement of the Supreme Court acquitted six other accused in the same case. "The Supreme Court did not believe the contentions made by the state agency and refused to believe the conspiracy part," Special Public Prosecutor HM Dhruv had argued. The Supreme Curt had on May 16 acquitted the other six accused in the case. In response to the appeals of Adam Suleman Ajmeri and Abdul Kayum, both of whom had got the death sentence, SC held that the prosecution could not establish that they participated in any conspiracy. Altaf Mallick, Abdulmiya Kadri, Mohammad Hanif Shaikh and Chand Khan aka Shan Miya who were serving jail terms ranging from 10 years to life were also acquitted by the Supreme Court. Thirty persons were killed in the attack on the Akshardham temple in Gandhinagar on September 24, 2002. (With PTI inputs)