Accused in Tendulkar abduction plan get eight-year term
A division bench modified the order on sentence and reduced the life term of the convicts’, who are accused in plotting abduction of Sachin Tendulkar, to eight years © Getty Images
By CricketCountry Staff
New Delhi: Jan 24, 2012
Six Harkat-ul Jihad-al-Islami terrorists, accused for plotting the abduction of cricketers Sachin Tendulkar and Sourav Ganguly in 2002, were sentenced to eight-year jail terms by the Delhi High Court.
Earlier, the lower court awarded life imprisonment to all the six HuJI terrorists under the stringent Prevention of Terrorism Act (POTA) saying the punishment “must send a clear message that India is not nor will it become a safe haven for terrorists”.
According to reports in postnoon.com, a division bench of Justice S Ravindra Bhat and Justice SP Garg modified the order on sentence and reduced the convicts’ life term to eight years.
The convicts from Pakistan are Tariq Mohammed, Arshad Khan and Ashfaq Ahmed. The three Indians are Mufti Israr, Ghulam Qadir Bhatt and Ghulam Mohd Dar.
Apart from plotting to abduct the two cricketers, the accused also planned to attack Bhabha Atomic Research Centre in Mumbai and assassinate then president APJ Abdul Kalam in 2002.