New Delhi: A designated Prevention of Terrorism Act (POTA) court has sentenced three Harkat-ul-Jihadi- e-Islami militants to 10 years imprisonment for their role in a plot to assassinate President A P J Abdul Kalam and kidnap cricketers Sachin Tendulkar and Sourav Ganguly.

Designated judge S N Dhingra (who has been transferred as additional district judge) also imposed a fine of Rs one lakh each on convicts Mohammed Ashraf alias Mohammed Shakeel, Mohammed Amran and Abdul Majid – all Pakistani nationals.

The trio had in September confessed their role in the crime before Dhingra with Ashraf, citing the love Indians showered on Baby Noor, who came here from Pakistan for a heart surgery, as what motivated him to admit his guilt.

A Delhi police crime branch team under ACP Ravi Shankar, which cracked the case, had chargesheeted them along with six others. They, police claimed, also had plans to trigger blasts at the Bhaba Atomic Research Centre.

The other accused in the case are Tariq Mohammad, Ashaq Ahmed, Mufti Mohammad Asrar, Arshad Khan, Ghulam Mohammad Dar and Ghulam Qadar Bhatt.

PTI