The Gujarat police on Saturday filed charge sheets against 21 people allegedly involved in the killing of Bharatiya Janata Party leader Haren Pandya and accused in a "large-scale conspiracy to foment terrorist activities in the state".
Ahmedabad crime branch officials filed the charge sheets in a special Prevention of Terrorism Act court. The anti-terrorism law was invoked against the 21 people for their alleged role in planting 'tiffin bombs' in four municipal buses on May 29, 2002.
G L Singhal, Assistant Commissioner of Police (crime branch), while filing the charge sheets also named as absconding four persons, including the prime conspirator in the Pandya murder case, Mufti Sufiyan Patangiyan.
The charge sheets alleged that the accused persons had conspired to create terror in the minds of a large section of Hindus to avenge the post-Godhra communal violence.
The accused were arrested in various batches after the crime branch began a crackdown following the arrest of five Inter-Services Intelligence agents, residents of Ahmedabad, on April 12, 2003.
Investigations also led to the arrest of one Hanif Theliwala, in whose bag-manufacturing unit the 'tiffin bombs' were allegedly prepared.