AIMIM leader Asaduddin Owaisi on Tuesday stoked a fresh controversy saying “Why can’t our Premier Investigation Agencies show same Urgency to convict all alleged terrorist cases demolition Babri Masjid pending since 1992?” Firing a fresh salvo against the Narendra Modi government, he wondered, “Do not be surprised the way NIA is pursuing those Bomb Blast cases where accused are Non Muslims they will be exonerated bcos of Ache Din?” Casting aspersion on NIA’s probe into Hyderabad blasts, the Lok Sabha MP said, “dilsukhnagar bomb blast accused can be convicted in 3 years why is it taking long to convict MMasjid, Ajmer, Malegaon Can NIA throw some light.” Owaisi, who is known making controversial statements, ‘accepted’ the NIA special court’s verdict on Dilsukhnagar twin blasts in which 18 people were killed in February 2013. “Dilsukhnagar blast courts have given a verdict which must be accepted ,terrorist should be punished,” he tweeted. Indian Mujahideen co-founder Yasin Bhatkal and four others were sentenced to death by the NIA court. The main accused, Riyaz Bhatkal, is absconding.

The court had observed that the case qualified as “rarest of the rare” because of the manner in which the IM operatives conspired to place bombs to create terror, and executed the plan. This was the first time that IM operatives have been sentenced. All five — Yasin Bhatkal, Pakistani national Zia-ur-Rahman alias Waqas, Asadullah Akhtar alias Haddi, Tahseen Akhtar alias Monu and Aijaz Sheikh — are currently lodged in Cherlapally Prison. On December 13, the NIA court had convicted them under Sections 302, 307, 324, 326, 121, 122, 201 read with 120B of the IPC, Sections 3 & 5 of The Explosives Substances Act and Sections 18, 19, 20, 38 (2), 39 (2) of the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act, 1967. After their conviction, the five convicts wrote separate letters to the judge, alleging that they were wrongly accused by the NIA and that the trial was biased.

Check out tweets of Asaduddin Owaisi

On February 21, 2013, 18 people were killed and 119 injured in two explosions in Dilsukhnagar, a crowded shopping area in Hyderabad. In its first chargesheet, the NIA accused Yasin Bhatkal, alias Mohammed Ahmed Siddibappa, and Asadullah Akhtar of conspiring to plant bombs at two places. Asadullah Akhtar and Yasin Bhatkal were arrested by the NIA from the Nepal border in Bihar on August 29, 2013. Asadullah Akhtar was also accused of smuggling the explosives from Mangalore to Hyderabad. The NIA court examined 453 witnesses during the course of the trial which began on August 24 last year.