The Hindu : Tamil Nadu News : Tension as bomb case accused consume `poison'

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Apr 19, 2005

Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu

Tension as bomb case accused consume `poison'

Special Correspondent

Reason: Rejection of plea for speedy trial

COIMBATORE: Tension gripped the special court for the serial bomb blasts trial here this morning as five of the 166 accused swooned on the premises after consuming "some poisonous substance."

According to official sources, when Special Judge K. Uthirapathi enquired them about their health, they said that as the Madras High Court did not concede their plea for expediting the trial, they consumed "poison."

The sources said the prisoners had been languishing in jail for almost seven years.

The judge directed the police to shift them to the Coimbatore Medical College Hospital. They were admitted to the Intensive Care Unit where they are said to be out of danger.

According to the sources, Yakub, Sikander and Obaidur Rehman, all 32, Sheikh Fakhrudin, 30, and Abu Salikh ,33, consumed a "mixture of mosquito coil and blood pressure tablets". They are said to be among the 71 accused who moved the court for a separate trial contending that they had not been charged under Section 120 B of the Indian Penal Code (criminal conspiracy).While the special court conceded their plea, the High Court rejected it recently following an appeal by the Crime Branch-CID.

The serial blasts in the city on February 14, 1998, claimed 58 lives apart from injuring about 250 people. The damage to the property was assessed at Rs. 75 crores.

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