IISc terror attack: Six get life imprisonment in Bangalore

Bangalore, December 19: Six people, suspected to be members of terror outfit Lashkar-e-Taiba, were on Monday sentenced to life imprisonment by a Karnataka court for a terror attack at the prestigious Indian Institute of Science here in 2005 that killed a retired professor. Fast track court Judge VR Revankar

awarded the punishment to Mohammed Riaz-ur-Rehman of Andhra Pradesh, and Afzar Pasha, Mehboob Ibrahim Saab Chopdar, Noorulla Khan, Mohammed Irfan and Nazim Uddin alias Munna, all from Karnataka.

The attack was the first major terror strike in Bangalore, the nation's tech hub housing well-known educational and research institutions, Indian and foreign IT firms, giant public sector factories and scores of BPOs, call centres and other IT-enabled services.

In the attack on the evening of Dec 28, 2005, delegates coming out of an international conference at the famed science institute in north Bangalore were fired on, leading to the death of M.C. Puri, a retired professor of Indian Institute of Technology-Delhi, and injuries to four people.

Police arrested seven people Jan 14, 2006, and charged them with sedition, terrorism and creating religious disharmony.

One accused was acquitted while the other six were found guilty by the court Saturday.