Patiala, June 14: A prime accused in the hijacking of an Indian airlines plane to Kandahar today told a special court here that the entire drama was planned by the Indian government.
Deposing before the designated court, Yusuf Nepali said the entire hijacking drama was fabricated by then Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, Union Home Minister L K Advani and External Affairs Minister Yashwant Sinha.
The IC-814 flight was hijacked after it took over from Kathmandu and was taken to Kandahar in Afghanistan.
Nepali, who allegedly assisted the hijackers, told the court that it was an attempt by the government to get rid of three terrorists of Harkat-ul-Mujahideen.
He said the government was of the view that in case the terrorists were let off, they could be either killed in an encounter or in terrorist activities.
Nepali said the Government of India was finding it hard to curtail terrorist activities of Maulana Masood Azhar and his two accomplices Umar Shaikh and Mohammad Zargar.
He said the three terrorists despite being shifted to Tihar jail from Kashmir were continuing with their terror activities from the prison.
Nepali said Umar Shaikh was convicted by a Pakistan court for the murder of a foreign journalist and was awarded capital punishment.
Nepali said he was innocent and was falsely involved in the case.
He said even the Nepalese government had not proceeded with the case registered in their country.
Nepali said it was not possible for the pilot of the IC 814 to fly the plane to unknown territories without an air map provided by aviation authorities of concerned countries.
Source: Zee News