AP govt to cancel jail term relief to IM terror suspect

The Andhra Pradesh government on Monday night decided to cancel the remission of prison term granted to alleged Indian Mujahideen activist Syed Maqbool in the backdrop of his suspected involvement in the twin bomb blasts in Hyderabad last month.

Maqbool, sentenced to life imprisonment in two separate murder cases, was granted remission and set free from jail in Hyderabad in October 2009 after having served nine-years-and-four months of the jail term.

Delhi Police had arrested him last year under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act and the Explosive Substances Act for his alleged involvement in cases of criminal conspiracy to commit terror acts. He was lodged in Tihar jail.

The National Investigation Agency brought him to Hyderabad along with another terror suspect Imran Khan as part of probe into the February 21 blasts at Dilsukhnagar and interrogated them for four days. They were sent back to Tihar on Sunday.

"In view of the serious nature of criminal offence committed by Maqbool after his release from prison, the government has decided to cancel the remission granted to him. Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy has cleared the relevant file and sent it to Governor E S L Narasimhan for approval," sources in the chief minister's office said.

Maqbool will now have to serve the remaining period of his life sentence in the murder cases he had been convicted for, they added.