Ariz Khan of Indian Mujahidin gets death penalty in Batla House Encounter

New Delhi: Ariz Khan, the criminal, involved in the Batla House encounter case, was awarded the death penalty by the Delhi Sessions Court. In 2008, Mohan Chand Sharma of the Delhi police had been martyred in the encounter. Therefore, satisfaction is being expressed from around the country that the Indian Mujahidin terrorist, Ariz Khan, was awarded the death penalty. The general reaction is martyr Mohan Chand Sharma has finally been delivered justice after 13 years.

Referring to this case as the ‘Rarest of Rare’, the Delhi sessions court awarded the death penalty to Ariz Khan. The court stated that Ariz Khan was a threat to society while announcing the judgement. At the same time, a fine of ₹1.1 million also has been imposed on Ariz Khan. ₹1 million out of this will be given to the next of kin of Mohan Chand Sharma. The Court announced Ariz Khan guilty on the 8th of March. While pronouncing Ariz Khan guilty, the court observed that Arzi Khan, who shot Mohan Chand Sharma and strong evidence, has been submitted by the government proving it and this evidence are not deniable.

On 18th September 2008, the Delhi police special cell received an intel that some terrorists from the Azamgarh module of Indian Mujahidin were hiding in Batla House. Just a week before this, Delhi had been rocked by four bomb blasts. 26 people had been killed in these blasts and 130 had been injured. Investigations revealed that Indian Mujahidin was behind the blasts. But the police were not getting any leads. At this time, Police Inspector Sharma received a tipoff that some terrorists from the Indian Mujahidin Azamgarh module were hiding in Batla House.

Mohan Chand Sharma reached Batla House, along with a few colleagues, to apprehend these terrorists. The police intended to expose the source of the Delhi blasts by arresting these terrorists. But as soon as they entered house no L-18, in the Batla House, five terrorists opened fire on the police. Thereafter, two terrorists were killed in the police firing. Whereas one was caught alive, two others succeeded in escaping. Mohan Chand Sharma was martyred in the firing of these two terrorists. Two of his colleagues were injured in the firing.

In 2010, one of the absconding terrorists, Shazad Ahmed, was picked up from Lucknow. He was awarded a life sentence in 2013. But Ariz was absconding for 10 years. An award of ₹ 1.5 million was announced for information regarding Ariz Khan. It has been exposed that Ariz Khan had a hand in the bomb blasts in Ahmedabad, Jaipur and Uttar Pradesh, along with the Delhi blasts. In July 2008, there had been a series of 21 blasts in Ahmedabad in just 70 minutes. Before this, in May, Jaipur had been rocked by 9 bomb blasts. In November 2007, 18 people had been killed in the six bomb blasts at the Lucknow, Varanasi and Faizabad high courts.