Mumbai, On Tuesday, special MCOCA court sentenced Lashkar-e-Taiba operative and 26/11 Mumbai attacks plotter Sayed Zabiuddin Ansari alias Abu Jundal and six others to life imprisonment in the 2006 Aurangabad arms haul case.

3 convicts were jailed for eight years while 2 other convicts were sentenced to 14 years of jail. Eight of the 22 accused were acquitted, one faces a separate trial and another is on the run.

The cache of 43kg of RDX, 10 AK-47 assault rifles, 3,200 live cartridges and 50 hand grenades were sourced from Pakistan and were intended for attacks on then Gujarat CM Narendra Modi and Vishwa Hindu Parishad leader Pravin Togadia to avenge the 2002 Gujarat riots, observed special judge S L Anekar.

The accused had worked to strike terror by carrying out jihad, the court added. Special public prosecutor Vaibhav Bagade had sought the maximum sentence against the convicts .

“The maximum sentence that the accused convicted under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA) is life imprisonment”, said Bagade.