2007 court blast accused dies on way to jail,govt wanted to drop case against him

Incidentally,the state government had on May 3 moved an application in the Barabanki court for withdrawal of charges against Khalid and another alleged operative of the HuJI,Tariq Qasmi. The duo was arrested by UP STF for court blasts that took place on November 23,2007. The court,however,rejected the government’s plea on May 10.

Khalid’s family have alleged that the police team escorting him had murdered him. They demanded a judicial inquiry and CBI investigation.

Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav has ordered an inquiry into Khalid’s death by Secretary (Home) Rakesh and ADG Jawed Akhtar. A judicial inquiry will be conducted by Chief Judicial Magistrate Avinash Kumar Pandey.

IG (Law and Order) R K Vishwakarma said the cause of Khalid’s death is yet not known. The autopsy,to be conducted tomorrow in Lucknow,will be videographed.

Khalid was lodged in Lucknow district jail along with co-accused Tariq,Sajjadur-Rehman and Mohammad Akhtar. Lucknow District Jail Superintendent Dadhiram said Khalid had no health problem when he left the jail in the morning.

According to circle officer of Lucknow Reserve Police Lines,Sanjeev Tyagi,a team of eight policemen from Lucknow lines led by sub-inspector Ram Avadh had taken the four accused — Khalid,Tariq,Sajjadur-Rehman and Mohammad Akhtar — to Faizabad.

According to Faizabad jail records,the four terror accused reached the jail around 1 pm.