Shock, anguish in Azamgarh as Khalid Mujahid buried in hometown

Sunday May 19, 2013 8:51 PM, ummid.com & Agencies

Lucknow: Hundreds of people from Azamgarh, Bhadoi and Varanasi on Sunday thronged to Madhiyahu village in Azamgarh to participate in the funeral prayers of Khalid Mujahid - an accused in the 2007 serial blast case, who died in mysterious condition yesterday.

"The entire village and nearby areas are in shock. Markets and bazaars are closed. People have come from different parts of Jaunpur and neighboring districts. They silently and peacefully buried the body of Khalid Mujahid," Mohammad Junaid, an official of Jamiat Ahle Hadees, has been quoted in the media.
The funeral took place today at around 05:30 in the afternoon.

Junaid said no government official from Lucknow came to console the bereaved family.
Khalid Mujahid, an accused in the serial blasts at Uttar Pradesh's Faizabad in 2007, died of 'heat stroke' Saturday when he was being taken back to the Lucknow prison after a hearing at a Faizabad court.

For every hearing, Mujahid, along with other accused - Tariq Qazmi, Mohammad Akhtar and Sajjad ur Rehman - were taken to the Faizabad court under high security from Lucknow prison.

Khalid along with Tariq Qasmi was arrested by Special Task Force (STF) on 20 December 2007 from Barabanki. Huge explosives were also shown as recovered from his possession. STF claimed that he was involved in the serial blasts which occurred in Gorakhpur, Faizabad and Lucknow.

Later, Nimesh Commission was constituted headed by Justice R D Nimesh who in its report questioned STF's claim about the place of arrest.

The Akhilesh governmet had recently decided to withdraw the cases against Mujahid and Tariq Qasmi. The state government, in its petition before the court, had pleaded that it had decided to set the two accused free to "promote communal harmony and public interest".

The Barabanki district court dismissed on May 10 ts request to withdraw cases against the two.
The court, while rejecting the state's plea, said the government has failed to specify and define the two terms used as the reason for appealing to free the two accused.