<p>A bench comprising Justices G S Singhvi and C K Prasad directed the West Bengal government to respond within four months to the petition filed by Ansari challenging his conviction and death sentence in the case.<br /><br />Ansari has challenged the Calcutta High Court’s February 2010 order which upheld the death sentence awarded to him by the sessions court for his involvement in the crime.<br />According to the prosecution, two motorcycle-borne men had indiscriminately fired with an AK-47 assault rifle at the security staff (policemen) outside the American Centre on Jawaharlal Nehru Road in the morning of January 22, 2002, killing six of them and injuring fourteen.<br /><br />Death sentence stayed<br />Ansari and co-accused Jamiluddin Nasir were awarded capital punishment. However, three others were sentenced to seven years’ imprisonment.<br /><br />Earlier this month, the Supreme Court had stayed the death sentence awarded to Nasir. <br />The sessions court in April 2005 had sentenced Ansari, Nasir and three others to death while acquitting two others. <br /><br />They were charged with Sections 121 (waging war against the state), 121-A (conspiracy), 302 and 9 (murder) and 307 (attempt to murder) of the Indian Penal Code and Section 27(3) of the Arms Act. <br /><br />Just four days after the attack, two men — Salim and Zahid — were killed in an encounter with a Delhi police team in Hazaribagh in Jharkhand. <br />The police had come to know about the involvement of Aftab Ansari in the American Centre attack from the dying declarations of Salim and Zahid.<br />Ansari was arrested from Dubai and deported to India on February 9, 2002, to face trial. He was part of a terror outfit, Asif Reza Commando Force, that reportedly had links with Harkat-ul-Jehadi-e-Islam.</p>
<p>A bench comprising Justices G S Singhvi and C K Prasad directed the West Bengal government to respond within four months to the petition filed by Ansari challenging his conviction and death sentence in the case.<br /><br />Ansari has challenged the Calcutta High Court’s February 2010 order which upheld the death sentence awarded to him by the sessions court for his involvement in the crime.<br />According to the prosecution, two motorcycle-borne men had indiscriminately fired with an AK-47 assault rifle at the security staff (policemen) outside the American Centre on Jawaharlal Nehru Road in the morning of January 22, 2002, killing six of them and injuring fourteen.<br /><br />Death sentence stayed<br />Ansari and co-accused Jamiluddin Nasir were awarded capital punishment. However, three others were sentenced to seven years’ imprisonment.<br /><br />Earlier this month, the Supreme Court had stayed the death sentence awarded to Nasir. <br />The sessions court in April 2005 had sentenced Ansari, Nasir and three others to death while acquitting two others. <br /><br />They were charged with Sections 121 (waging war against the state), 121-A (conspiracy), 302 and 9 (murder) and 307 (attempt to murder) of the Indian Penal Code and Section 27(3) of the Arms Act. <br /><br />Just four days after the attack, two men — Salim and Zahid — were killed in an encounter with a Delhi police team in Hazaribagh in Jharkhand. <br />The police had come to know about the involvement of Aftab Ansari in the American Centre attack from the dying declarations of Salim and Zahid.<br />Ansari was arrested from Dubai and deported to India on February 9, 2002, to face trial. He was part of a terror outfit, Asif Reza Commando Force, that reportedly had links with Harkat-ul-Jehadi-e-Islam.</p>