The special designated judge hearing the case of hijacking of the Indian Airlines IC-814 plane to Kandahar, which led to freeing of dreaded terrorists like Maulana Masood Azhar in 1999, has postponed the judgment to February 5.Special judge Inderjeet Singh, who had completed the trial, was to deliver the judgment on Tuesday. But as he was still going through the voluminous records pertaining to the case, he decided to adjourn the case to February 5. On Tuesday afternoon, a big posse of mediamen waited in vain outside the Patiala Jail, awaiting the final verdict.The court has so far recorded statements of 120 prosecution witnesses and examined thousands of documents presented by the CBI.Of the total 10 accused in the sensitive case, the CBI has arrested only three, while the rest, including the main accused Ibrahim Athar, are still at large. The CBI has charged three accused - Abdul Latif, Dalip Kumar Bujhail and Yusuf Nepali— for conspiring to hijack the plane, which was on its way from Kathmandu to Delhi.Athar is a relative of Maulana Masood Azhar, who, after his release, went to Pakistan and launched another dreaded terrorist organisation.
