The special Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA) court in Mumbai sentenced 7 out of 12 convicts including Abu Jundal to life imprisonment in the 2006 Aurangabad arms haul case.

Besides Jundal, six other convicts – Mohammed Aamir Sheikh, Billal Ahmed, Sayed Akif, Afroz Khan, Mohammed Aslam Kashmiri and Faizal Ataur Rehman (who is on death row in the 11 July 2006 Mumbai train bombings case) – were handed down life sentences by designated Judge Shrikant Anekar.



Pronouncing the sentence, the court said that all the seven convicts will be imprisoned for their (natural) lives.



Also, two other convicts – Mohammed Mujaffar Tanvir and Dr Mohammed Sharif – were handed out 14 years of imprisonment while three others, Mushtaq Ahmed, Javed Ahmed and Afzal Khan, were awarded eight years each.

The court said that this was a larger conspiracy to strike terror by the accused under the name of jihad. Accused Feroz Deshmukh and Samad Sheikh named Zakir Naik, saying his speeches inspired them, but the court did not rely on these confessions.

