New Delhi: A Delhi court is likely to pronounce on Saturday the quantum of sentence against six HuJI militants, including 3 Pakistanis, convicted for plotting to kidnap cricketers Sachin Tendulkar and Sourav Ganguly in 2002 to secure the release of two jailed terrorists.
Additional Sessions Judge (ASJ) Pinki had reserved the order on January 6 for Friday after hearing the arguments on the sentence on behalf of the Delhi Police and convicts.
The court had on December 24 convicted the Harkat-ul-Jehadi Islami (HuJI) terrorists under stringent anti-terror law POTA (Prevention of Terrorism Act) and other penal offences.
Those convicted included three Pakistan-based militants - Tariq Mohammed, Arshad Khan and Ashfaq Ahmed.
Besides them, three Indians - Mufti Israr, Ghulam Qadir Bhatt and Ghulam Mohd Dar - were also held guilty in the case.
The accused had conspired to kidnap the cricketers for securing the release of two HuJI terrorists Nasarullah Langrial and Abdul Rahim who were then lodged in jails in New Delhi.
The HUJI terrorists are also accused of plotting to assassinate former President APJ Abdul Kalam during his visit to Patna in 2002. The Delhi Police had also charged them with conspiring to attack the Bhaba Atomic Research Centre in Mumbai.
During the arguments on sentence, public prosecutor Anita Hooda had wanted the court to award the maximum sentence of life imprisonment to the convicts.
The defence counsel, however, had opposed her plea saying the Delhi High Court had reduced the sentence of three of their associates, who pleaded guilty earlier, to only eight years jail term.
They sought the court to apply the principle of parity and release the convicts after sentencing them to the period they had already served in judicial custody.
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