A sessions court began to pronounce its verdict on Wednesday in the 1998 serial bomb blasts cases, bringing down the curtains on the nine-year long anxious wait of the 166 accused and their families.
Judge K Uthirapathi found the main accused S A Basha, the founder of Al-Umma, guilty of conspiracy and transporting explosives, while Chairman of Kerala-based PDP Abdul Nasser Mahdhani, the prime accused, has been acquitted.
Twelve others have been pronounced guilty for conspiracy.
Among the 168 arrested, majority of them owing allegiance to banned Al-Umma including its general secretary.
There are 220 core charges against the 166 accused in the 19 bomb blasts, which rocked the city on February 14, 1998 during the election campaign visit of senior BJP leader L K Advani, claiming 58 lives and injuring more than 200 people.
The sentences are expected to be pronounced from August 6 onwards, after hearing arguments by the defence.
The blasts also caused a property loss worth over Rs 14 crore in the industrial city.
The Special Investigation Team of Tamil Nadu CB-CID, which probed the cases, has argued that the blasts, carried out under the title “Operation Allahu Akbar”, was part of the conspiracy to eliminate Advani.
It was a retaliation to the killing of 17 Muslims in the riots and subsequent police firings, as a fall out to the murder of Selvaraj, a traffic constable in the city on November 29, 1997.
The trial began in March, 2002 and arguments started in June 2006. It was completed on April 10 last, examining about 1,300 witnesses out of a total 2,345.