New Delhi:
Shahzad Ahmed, 23 when he was arrested from his village in Azamgarh district, has been sentenced to life in prison by a court of killing a Delhi Police inspector in what is called the Batla House encounter of 2008.
The police's case against Shahzad has centred on his passport and mobile phone being found at L-18 Batla House, the apartment which the police team raided on September 19, 2008.
The cops alleged that several Indian Mujahideen operatives lived in that apartment; they alleged that these men were responsible for serial blasts earlier that month in Delhi that killed 30 people. All of them from Azamgarh in Uttar Pradesh.
When the gun-fire ended, two young men were dead. One was arrested. The police said others had escaped. Inspector Mohan Chand Sharma, who led the police team, was also killed.
17 months later, the police announced that Shahzad had been arrested. From his grandfather's home in Khalispur village. They said he had been living there for four months, and had never stepped out or used a phone. They also alleged that he had confessed to his role in the Delhi blasts and to having been at Batla House on the day of the encounter.
Shahzad's lawyers have said they will appeal against the Delhi trial court's verdict. They say Shahzad was not at L-18 Batla House on September 19, 2008. They say he is innocent and has not confessed. They also say that he was living an ordinary life in Khalispur when he was wrenched out of it by the police.
Shahzad finished schooling at the Jyoti Niketan School in Azamgarh city and then sought admission to a computer course at Delhi's Jamia Millia University. The police say that he lived in Batla House, close to the university, with Atif Ameen, one of the men killed in the encounter, and other young men from his district and was introduced to terror activities by Atif, who, they alleged headed the north India unit of the Indian Mujahideen.
Shahzad's father Siraj Ahmed ran a business in Saudi Arabia and his mother Parveen, and four siblings lived with his grandfather Niyaz Ahmed at the house from where he was arrested, after much surveillance, the police said.
His family says Shazad Ahmed is the victim of a case of mistaken identity.
The police's case against Shahzad has centred on his passport and mobile phone being found at L-18 Batla House, the apartment which the police team raided on September 19, 2008.
The cops alleged that several Indian Mujahideen operatives lived in that apartment; they alleged that these men were responsible for serial blasts earlier that month in Delhi that killed 30 people. All of them from Azamgarh in Uttar Pradesh.
When the gun-fire ended, two young men were dead. One was arrested. The police said others had escaped. Inspector Mohan Chand Sharma, who led the police team, was also killed.
17 months later, the police announced that Shahzad had been arrested. From his grandfather's home in Khalispur village. They said he had been living there for four months, and had never stepped out or used a phone. They also alleged that he had confessed to his role in the Delhi blasts and to having been at Batla House on the day of the encounter.
Shahzad's lawyers have said they will appeal against the Delhi trial court's verdict. They say Shahzad was not at L-18 Batla House on September 19, 2008. They say he is innocent and has not confessed. They also say that he was living an ordinary life in Khalispur when he was wrenched out of it by the police.
Shahzad finished schooling at the Jyoti Niketan School in Azamgarh city and then sought admission to a computer course at Delhi's Jamia Millia University. The police say that he lived in Batla House, close to the university, with Atif Ameen, one of the men killed in the encounter, and other young men from his district and was introduced to terror activities by Atif, who, they alleged headed the north India unit of the Indian Mujahideen.
Shahzad's father Siraj Ahmed ran a business in Saudi Arabia and his mother Parveen, and four siblings lived with his grandfather Niyaz Ahmed at the house from where he was arrested, after much surveillance, the police said.
His family says Shazad Ahmed is the victim of a case of mistaken identity.
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